Meredith Bennett-Smith, ’06, was looking for the perfect case of physical abuse this summer—preferably one with video evidence. She was searching for something that would be compelling to even the most unsympathetic of Americans.

Bennett-Smith spent last summer in Washington, D.C., as an intern for a PBS “Frontline” documentary about immigration control and the physical abuse of immigrants in private prisons that is scheduled to air on Tuesday Oct. 18. Her experience with “Frontline” moved her from the world of written news into the somewhat-foreign world of broadcast journalism.

Bennett-Smith was an investigative reporter and production assistant for the “Frontline” team.

Her role was to do intense investigative reporting, something that she didn’t have a lot of experience with in her time at New York University, where she is currently enrolled in the journalism master’s program.

Bennett-Smith said a big difference between written and broadcast journalism is the producing process. It took a while for the team to get all the information together and make it comprehensive.

“In a documentary you have to get so much more material than you use,” Bennett-Smith said.

“That’s not something that I usually do. When I am writing a piece, I use most of the stuff I research, so it was frustrating that a lot of the research went into a file.”

However, Bennett-Smith said that all the work paid off because the team used the most powerful pieces in the documentary.

She also had to make sure that the interviewee talked well on camera. Bennett-Smith said that even if she had a good interview over the phone, if the person was lackluster on camera the interview couldn’t be used.

Finding incriminating video evidence proved to be the hardest part.

“In particular we were looking for video of a specific beating (of an immigrant),” Bennett-Smith said.

“We knew they existed, but we just couldn’t get them. The only way would have been to get a guard to smuggle them out.”

She researched five main cases in which privately contracted guards physically and sexually abused illegal immigrants held in private prisons all over the United States.

“I did call guards—but then I had to convince them to talk to me,” Bennett-Smith said. Bennett-Smith said if the guards were no longer working for the company, they might talk. However, if they didn’t trust Bennett-Smith or thought they were guilty, then they wouldn’t talk to her.

One of the more severe cases Bennett-Smith dealt with was an illegal immigrant who was raped by a prison guard.

The woman refused to be interviewed initially because of the fear and shame she associated with her assault—and the risk of her family recognizing her on television. But she finally agreed after many attempted meetings and interviews.

Bennett-Smith also worked on a non-abuse case in which a woman returned to the United States after a deportation, but was pulled over by a cop and quickly deported a second time.

The woman returned because her four children were born in the United States and were citizens. When she was deported, they were abandoned.

After looking through police records, Bennett-Smith found a letter written by the woman’s five-year-old son.

“The boy said he used to want to be a policeman, but didn’t want to anymore because the people who were supposed to be his protector didn’t protect his mom,” she said.

Bennett-Smith was paid $15 per hour (a luxury nearly unheard-of for journalism internships) and worked seven-hour days.

However, she said she would have done it all for free because it was so worthwhile.

“It’s not only that I was investigating something, but also it was that I was investigating something that needed to be told,” she said “I think you should get into journalism because there are stories that need to be told.”