Melissa Segura is an investigative reporter for BuzzFeed News and is based in New Mexico. Segura will use her RSF fellowship to work on a book, Lady Justice, based on her Polk Award-winning series which detailed how a group of predominantly working class, Latina women from Chicago uncovered evidence suggesting a police detective framed at least 51 of their sons, brothers, or husbands. The series, “Broken Justice in Chicago,” led to the exoneration of nine men who had each spent decades behind bars. Using the women’s stories as a framework, Segura’s book examines how the criminal justice system discriminates in communities of color — from police closing cases by any means necessary, to prosecutors conflating convictions with justice, and an appeals process valuing the conclusiveness of a verdict over its certitude.