Abstract:
Using literary journalistic techniques, the researcher profiled two individuals who took great risks to expose the "Brotherhood," a white supremacist group that thrived at Putnamville Prison, Putnamville, Indiana, for more than a decade. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with Dr. Kelsey Kauffman and Jerry Collins. Kauffman, a prison reformer and college professor, spent several years secretly documenting the events at Putnamville. She was instrumental in helping to pass state legislation reforming the Indiana Department of Corrections (DOC), exposing the Brotherhood and high-ranking DOC officials involved in illegal activities. Collins, an internal affairs investigator at Putnamville, was nearly beaten to death by members of the Brotherhood, seeking to silence him. The researcher employed saturation reporting, immersion journalism, and narrative nonfiction writing methods to profile these two individuals and recount the history of prison reform at Putnamville and across Indiana.