The Mountain West News Bureau’s investigation of tribal jails has won a third journalism award, gaining recognition in the 2022 National Native Media contest.

The Public Media Journalists Association selected the bureau's investigation of deaths at tribal jails as the best nationally edited news coverage for 2021.

A new report commissioned by the Interior Department provides a window into the fatal mistreatment of inmates in its tribal jails. The review comes on the heels of a Mountain West News Bureau and NPR investigation that found a pattern of neglect and misconduct contributing to at least 19 deaths at tribal detention centers overseen by the Bureau of Indian Affairs since 2016.

Lawmakers are pushing for a "do-over" of an Interior Department contract to review tribal jail deaths awarded to a former official. Nearly half of the deaths he was to review occurred on his watch.

The Interior Department ordered a review of tribal jail deaths, but the man who got the contract is a former agency official who oversaw the jails when some of the deaths occurred.

Willy Pepion had a cracked skull, and guards at the federal jail on the Blackfeet Reservation dismissed his pleas for help. He died in his cell. Three hours went by until anyone noticed.

"The corrections officers are basically holding these lives in their hands with their decisions."

The National Congress of American Indians has urged the federal government to place medical personnel in its tribal jails, arguing that the current situation "exacerbates the already challenging problem of health disparities for American Indians."

After months of repeated written questions and public records requests from NPR and the Mountain West News Bureau, Interior Department officials said they now plan to contract with an outside agency to examine the troubles plaguing tribal detention centers.