Floodlight hires Louisiana-based investigative reporter Garrett Hazelwood

Floodlight is proud to announce that we’ve hired investigative reporter Garrett Hazelwood to join our team. Hazelwood lives in New Orleans and his reporting will focus on Louisiana and the Gulf South. 

As a freelance reporter writing for both national and local outlets, his work has explored Louisiana’s for-profit criminal justice system, revealing a funding structure that gives judges a financial incentive to set high bail and secure convictions for minor offenses. One of the men he wrote about was given a plea deal and released from jail just days after the story published. 

He also revealed how a private equity firm, owned by the billionaire owner of the Detroit Pistons, helped create financial incentives for local governments to increase policing and the use of mass incarceration. Another investigation exposed a company that contracts with local jails to surveil and collect data on immigrant prisoners — including by scanning their mail. 

In addition to his written work, Hazelwood is an audio reporter and — with a master’s degree in creative writing from Louisiana State University — a talented narrative storyteller. His podcast episode for Sea Change, about the far-reaching consequences of pollution by the chemical fertilizer industry in Cancer Alley, reached more than 130,000 listeners in 2025.

He also previously worked on grant writing, copywriting and editing at The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental nonprofit.

“Since Floodlight’s founding five years ago, we’ve remained committed to reporting on the ground from Louisiana, an epicenter of the climate crisis,” Floodlight Executive Director Emily Holden said. “With Garrett’s sharp eye for wrongdoing and talent for explaining systemic harm, he will dig into locally relevant, nationally resonant investigations, working collaboratively with our local news partners.” 

Hazelwood joins an award-winning editorial team and will work with Investigative Reporter Ames Alexander, Investigative Producer Evan Simon, Audience Director Rosie Gillies and Editor-in-Chief Brad Racino. 

His first day is Feb. 2.