Maren Machles
marenmachles.bsky.social
Maren Machles
@marenmachles.bsky.social
she/her
Investigative Producer at @pogo.org
Listen to Bad Watchdog https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bad-watchdog/id1665650370
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Reposted by Maren Machles
🥉 3rd Place: "Bad Watchdog," @marenmachles.bsky.social , Padmini Parthasarathy & @schwellenbach.bsky.social
🏅 Honorable Mention: "Silence in Sikeston," Cara Anthony, Zach Dyer, and Taylor Cook, @kffhealthnews.org @retroreport.org, and WORLD
May 23, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Read my @pogo.org investigation here to learn more about what contributed to these deaths in custody and why the lack of clear answers around how many there actually were is so disturbing. www.pogo.org/investigatio...
Missing Indigenous Deaths in Custody
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has promised to reform its detention facilities, but a new POGO investigation raises questions about whether the agency’s official count of deaths in custody is reliable.
www.pogo.org
April 14, 2025 at 9:00 PM
"Several officials involved in the contracting process in BIA and IA failed to identify this potential organizational conflict of interest and evaluate whether the potential organizational conflict of interest could impair The Cruzan Group’s objectivity in conducting the corrections study."
April 14, 2025 at 8:59 PM
This new report from the DOI OIG found that while "Cruzan did not violate post-Government employment ethics restrictions," the BIA failed to "execute due diligence in this procurement."
www.doioig.gov/reports/inve...
BIA Failed to Identify and Address Potential Conflicts of Interest When Awarding a Contract
Our investigation revealed failures in the procurement process at BIA and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs.
www.doioig.gov
April 14, 2025 at 8:59 PM
We also found discrepancies between the deaths in custody acknowledged during The Cruzan Group review, and the deaths that the BIA had previously reported to the Justice Department as required for the Death In Custody Reporting Act (DCRA).
April 14, 2025 at 8:58 PM
In June 2023, POGO published an investigation I wrote about this contract and the resulting report we obtained via FOIA. Our investigation also found that 9 of the 16 deaths under review happened on Darren Cruzan's watch. www.pogo.org/investigatio...
Missing Indigenous Deaths in Custody
The Bureau of Indian Affairs has promised to reform its detention facilities, but a new POGO investigation raises questions about whether the agency’s official count of deaths in custody is reliable.
www.pogo.org
April 14, 2025 at 8:58 PM
Amey said, "The government has already failed the nation twice, first by failing to prevent the death of individuals in its custody and then by entrusting the review of the investigations into those deaths to a consulting firm founded by the person responsible for the safety the individuals."
April 14, 2025 at 8:58 PM
POGO's General Counsel Scott Amey sent a letter in June 2022 to then-Inspector General Mark Greenblatt requesting an investigation into the organizational and individual conflicts of interests posed by this award. www.pogo.org/policy-lette...
Letter Requesting Interior’s Office of Inspector General to…
POGO is a nonpartisan independent watchdog that investigates and exposes waste, corruption, abuse of power, and when the government fails to serve the public or silences those who report wrongdoing.
www.pogo.org
April 14, 2025 at 8:58 PM
The Cruzan Group's president and managing partner is Darren Cruzan, who was previously the director of BIA Office of Justice Services which oversees the agency's 90+ detention facilities and law enforcement.
April 14, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Today, the Interior's Office of Inspector General published a summary of its investigation into the BIA procurement process, and whether or not the agency properly awarded a contract to The Cruzan Group back in 2021 to look at the investigations into deaths in BIA custody from 2016 to 2020.
April 14, 2025 at 8:57 PM