How a Nebraska Newspaper Kicked Off a Major Prison Sentencing Scandal

By: Deron Lee | CJR

“Had the World-Herald not broken the story, nothing would have happened.”

So said Nebraska state Sen. Ernie Chambers at a dramatic Sept. 4 hearing on a scandal that has rocked the state’s Department of Corrections, spurred litigation and criminal investigations against state officials, become a political football in the governor’s race, and disrupted the lives of hundreds of convicts.