Last year, New York Focus filed over 70 Freedom of Information Law requests for the reports scoc compiles when it inspects county jails, plus some related documents. We received thousands of pages of records. The documents, covering most of New York’s 62 counties, offer a first of its kind look into jail operations: procedures, problems, and state attempts — or failures — to address them.

We’re publishing all of those documents here. Our hope is that local journalists, advocates, researchers, watchdogs, and everyday citizens will use them to hold their county and state officials accountable. New York Focus has already used the documents to expose a half-baked plan to close a jail, reveal how sheriffs are sidestepping solitary confinement law, and illustrate the extent to which officials sweep incarcerated people’s official complaints under the rug.