Macmillan wins Welles Prize

Washington Post reporter Douglas MacMillan has won the Welles Prize from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

MacMillan, Bagehot class of 2017, was awarded the Welles Prize for his work on Memory Inc., a series of stories in The Post investigating how elderly people with memory problems had wandered away from the assisted living facilities that were paid to keep them safe. At least 100 of these people died.

MacMillan examined the unregulated $34 billion assisted living industry and uncovered how the drive for profits led to inadequate staffing levels and deadly lapses at some facilities. He interviewed more than 50 current and former assisted living employees and analyzed corporate documents and data to show how the drive for profits led to inadequate staffing levels and deadly lapses at some facilities.

Shortly after publication of the first stories, the Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing demanding answers from the largest assisted-living chains. The judges cited the series as investigating reporting at its best.

The prize is named after Chris Welles, longtime business journalist and the first director of the Knight-Bagehot program.