The Landlord & the Tenant
A young mother rents a house in West Allis. The previous tenant tells her, "Baby, they shouldn't have let you move in."
The judging panel described the story as “Dickensian in its depth, range and storytelling power,” and as “a gripping account of how two people are treated so vastly differently by the law.” They commended the team for offering a “comprehensive,” “complex,” “nuanced” tale that integrates “intergenerational trauma, longitudinal systemic failures and best intentions gone awry.” They said the “brilliance of the piece is in the details,” and called the level of reporting required “incredibly difficult,” and the writing “both dispassionate and uniquely powerful.” Judges praised Rutledge and Armstrong for providing a “masterclass in not only urban reporting but systemic reporting around trauma and injustice.”
Originally published by The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and ProPublica on November 16, 2022.