Author Archives: Doug Livingston

Doug Livingston is a staff writer for The Marshall Project - Cleveland. Livingston joined The Marshall Project after 12 years as a reporter with the Akron Beacon Journal. He’s covered everything from city government, education and politics to criminal justice and policing. His reporting, consistently supported with data and community engagement, has covered systemic issues of insecure housing and rising evictions, lax state laws for charter schools, poverty, gun violence, police accountability, homelessness and more.

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An illustration shows a closeup view of a man looking at a paper with the words “conduct report” at the top. Ripped scans of mail documents are layered on top of the illustration.

How Ohio prison staff open and read confidential legal mail

by Doug Livingston and The Marshall Project June 23, 2025June 23, 2025

A 2021 crackdown on drug smuggling has delayed or prevented basic legal documents from reaching people inside Ohio’s 28 state prisons.

An illustration shows a silhouette of a man with his hands up in frustration as he looks at a woman on a laptop screen. The background is a large representation, blurred with color, of the same woman, who is White with shoulder-length gray hair.

News

All stick, no carrot: Ohio’s Reagan Tokes law acts as a ‘one-way ratchet’ for prison time

by Doug Livingston and The Marshall Project April 17, 2025April 17, 2025

An illustration shows a man with medium skin tone and black hair wearing a blue prison uniform in four scenarios. Clockwise from the top left: The man raises his fists in front of a White man in a prison uniform who is yelling and pointing at him; the man sits on his bed with his head down, looking at a piece of paper; the man sits at a table in front of a woman with a ponytail and medium-dark skin tone; the man stands in an office in front of a laptop, where a woman on a screen is speaking to him.

Government, Public Safety

How Ohio’s Reagan Tokes law keeps people in prison longer

by Doug Livingston and The Marshall Project April 10, 2025April 9, 2025

People standing around a table getting trained.

Can volunteer pretrial support help reduce Cleveland’s jail population?

by Doug Livingston and The Marshall Project February 28, 2025February 27, 2025

Cuyahoga County Jail in downtown Cleveland.

Volunteers helped dozens of people in the Cuyahoga County Jail to vote in 2024 election

by Rachel Dissell, Doug Livingston and The Marshall Project November 25, 2024November 22, 2024

An illustration shows, from left: The silhouettes of three people against a blue background with the word "Ohio" layered over the bottom of the silhouettes; a gavel in black; a pale blue shape of a donkey symbolizing Democrats; a simplified indication of barbed wire in the shape of four upside-down "v"s; a keyhole over a map of Ohio in marigold yellow; and a pale pink shape of an elephant symbolizing Republicans against a coral-colored background in the bottom-right section of the illustration.

Election Views From Behind Bars in Ohio: Divided Just Like the Rest of U.S.

by Doug Livingston, Rachel Dissell and The Marshall Project October 24, 2024October 25, 2024

A collage illustration shows photos of a meeting room full of people, a man in a suit, the exterior of a building that reads “Cuyahoga County Juvenile Justice Center,” and a close-up image of people sitting, one taking notes. Excerpts of various documents are layered throughout the collage. One reads, “I am available, interested, and qualified to serve as assigned counsel in the following case type(s):” and another reads: “Optional delinquency qualification worksheets: The following sections are provided as a convenience to assist you in determining whether you meet the minimum qualifications established in O.A.C. 120-1-10 for appointment to various levels of delinquency cases. You are not required to submit these sections with your application.”

Government, News, Public Safety

Not ‘mini-adult court’: Lawyers lacking qualifications defended 1,200 Cuyahoga County kids

by Rachel Dissell, Doug Livingston and The Marshall Project September 12, 2024October 18, 2024

A diptych photo shows Judge Jennifer O'Malley, left, a White woman, and Judge Thomas F. O'Malley, right, a White man, in judge's robes and seated in a courtroom.

News

For a handful of lawyers in Cuyahoga County, juvenile cases are big business

by Doug Livingston, Rachel Dissell and The Marshall Project March 22, 2024October 18, 2024

Elections, Explainers

What qualifications does someone need to run for judge?

by Doug Livingston, The Marshall Project and Signal Cleveland March 5, 2024October 19, 2024