Imagine going to a treatment center for addiction, only to be sent to work at a chicken processing plant for no pay. That’s one of the shocking realities investigative reporter Shoshana Walter uncovered in her national investigation into court-mandated addiction treatment. Her reporting exposed how a broken system turned thousands of people into an unpaid workforce for some of the country’s largest corporations—work that made her a Pulitzer Prize finalist.
At the center of her story was a treatment program founded by a former poultry executive, where participants were forced into unpaid labor inside chicken plants. But that was only the beginning. In her new book, Rehab: An American Scandal, Walter reveals a multi-billion-dollar web of mismanaged treatment centers, where profit too often comes before recovery.
On this episode of Grieving Out Loud, Shoshana shares what she discovered, what everyone should know about the addiction treatment industry, and what she hopes her reporting will change.
Click here to purchase Shoshana’s book, Rehab: An American Scandal
If you enjoyed this episode, you may like the following:
- Telling Everyone’s Story While Hiding Her Own: A Journalist’s Battle with Addiction
- Can We Save Lives While Cutting Funding? A Tough Conversation at the Top
- Saving tiny lives and healing families at a sanctuary for opioid-exposed newborns
- ‘I lost who I was.’ Emily’s Hope Treatment Scholarship gives mom second chance
MEET THE GUEST
Shoshana Walter
Shoshana Walter is the author of Rehab: An American Scandal and a reporter for The Marshall Project covering the criminal justice system. She began her reporting on the treatment system at The Center for Investigative Reporting, with work featured in The New York Times Magazine, newspapers, and NPR stations nationwide. She is based in Oakland, California.
