Sarah Tory

Sarah Tory (2016) is an independent journalist and correspondent for High Country News, a nonprofit magazine about the American West. She writes on issues related to water, social justice and immigration for the magazine, and has spent the past year deeply investigating immigrant detention issues.

Her reporting on the topic led to her to the town of Adelanto, a town in California once known for its orchards that is now home to four prison facilities all within ten miles of each other. Tory writes, “Desperate for money, city officials turned to incarceration, hoping to cash in on the soaring demand for prisons … Today, the old sign on the road leading into town still welcomes visitors to ‘The City of Unlimited Possibilities,’ where nearly 10,000 people are incarcerated —one third of Adelanto’s total population.”

During her time at the Carey Institute, Tory will turn her reporting and research into a feature story for the High Country News. She also plans on creating an accompanying podcast for the piece, using the Carey Institute’s audio equipment. Through the exploration of Adelanto, Tory will explore the history of the country’s private prison boom and its subsequent failures.

Prior to her work with High Country News, Tory worked as a reporter in Chile and contributed to a documentary about mining conflicts in Peru. She has degrees from both Williams College and Columbia University.