Before joining the Marshall Project, Beth Schwartzapfel worked for a decade as a freelance journalist specializing in long form and narrative journalism.
She covered the criminal justice system, issues affecting the LGBTQ community, and health care for the underserved and disenfranchised—particularly substance use, addiction, and HIV/AIDS. She was awarded the June 2014 Sidney Award for “The Great American Chain Gang,” an exploration of prison labor, and her piece “Who Shot Valerie Finley? Why one man’s innocence is so hard to prove” was runner-up for a 2014 John Jay/H. F. Guggenheim Prize for Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting.
Before beginning her journalism career, she worked in public health as an outreach worker and researcher in HIV and hepatitis C. She is a fellow of the MacDowell Colony, and earned an MFA in creative nonfiction from the New School. She lives in Boston.