A Beating, Then Death, Then Silence

New York Times investigative reporter Michael Winerip talks about his recent cover piece about the death of an inmate at the Fishkill Correctional Facility, co-authored by Michael Schwirtz. On the evening of April 21, Samuel Harrell, an inmate with a history of bipolar disorder, packed his bags and announced he was going home, even though he still had several years left to serve on his drug sentence. As many as 20 officers — including members of a group known around the prison as the Beat Up Squad — repeatedly kicked and punched Mr. Harrell, who is black, with some of them shouting racial slurs, according to more than a dozen inmate witnesses. Harrell’s medical records show nothing about the encounter, and officials declined to comment.