‘Motive,’ an investigative podcast from Chicago NPR station WBEZ, explores blindspots in the prison system — metaphorical, and literal — where correctional officers can and do behave as though no one is watching. The 21st was joined by criminal justice reporter Shannon Heffernan, the podcast's host, to discuss what she's found is happening inside big prisons in small Illinois towns. 

Cook County Jail is home to one of America's largest COVID-19 outbreaks, afflicting guards, nurses and detainees. We speak with Shannon Heffernan, a reporter on WBEZ's criminal justice desk who's been documenting the crisis.