To Capture a County

A 10-part investigative docuseries · Ashtabula County, Ohio

To Capture a County

All episodes streaming now

Start with Episode 01The Christmas Eve VoteAll episodes

Episodes

  1. 18:48

    Episode 01

    The Christmas Eve Vote

    It is one of the days of the year when almost nobody in a county of ninety-seven thousand people is paying attention to county government. The Board of County Commissioners is in session anyway.

  2. 21:22

    Episode 02

    Let the Record Reflect

    When someone dies in Ashtabula County with no money and no family able to pay, the county buries them. It is one of the oldest obligations a local government has, and one of the quietest.

  3. 31:11

    Episode 03

    The Geometry of Capture

    Courts and fields and dormitory-scale buildings, set down in the middle of agricultural land in one of the poorest counties in Ohio. It is called Spire.

  4. 31:51

    Episode 04

    The Marriage of Powers

    The Crime Enforcement Agency of Ashtabula County has a page on the county's website. Government, then Departments, then Sheriff. Four short paragraphs. The county wrote every word of it.

  5. 19:22

    Episode 05

    Give and Take

    There is another kind of case in American law. In that one, the defendant is an object. The State of Ohio versus a car.

  6. 13:58

    Episode 06

    The Price of Protection

    April 2022. A man stood on the Spring Street Bridge in the city of Ashtabula, Ohio. He was in a severe mental health crisis.

  7. 22:48

    Episode 07

    Dividends of Dead Men

    There is a kind of public money in Ohio that is not like the rest of it. It is not tax revenue. Nobody voted a levy for it.

  8. 22:32

    Episode 08

    Badges, Benches and Bloodlines

    Start with something that is not a crime. Two people live in the same house. They share a kitchen table, a bank account, a mortgage.

  9. 32:22

    Episode 09

    Absence of an Architect

    For eight episodes, this series has been looking for one person. That is the shape every story about corruption takes.

  10. 31:19

    Episode 10

    The Calculus of Corruption

    What are the chances? It is the question people ask about a marriage, a lottery ticket, a diagnosis. It is the right question to ask about a county.