PERSON: Neena Satija

Houston Chronicle

Investigative Reporter

Neena Satija is an investigative reporter for the Houston Chronicle. She covers everything from state and local law enforcement, to the Texas Legislature, to the courts system, to private companies.

Since joining the Chronicle in 2022, Satija has exposed systemic flaws in the Houston region’s criminal justice system that have prompted swift responses from local leaders. Following her investigative reports on overwhelmed court-appointed attorneys, officials promised reforms, including increasing funding for the Harris County public defender’s office. After she examined the consequences of dysfunction within former Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg’s “intake unit,” the department overhauled many of its internal practices. And a few weeks after she revealed that a man had spent 18 years in the Harris County Jail without a trial, authorities said they are still investigating the underlying murder case that put him behind bars and a prominent Houston lawyer has also begun looking into the matter.

Satija also led the Chronicle’s efforts last year to hold Houston-area utility CenterPoint Energy accountable in the wake of Hurricane Beryl. After her articles brought to light that the utility had spent nearly a billion dollars on massive generators which had never been deployed, and that state lawmakers had enabled the investment, some of Texas’ most powerful leaders ordered investigations into the matter and also filed legislation aiming to undo the debacle.

Prior to working at the Chronicle, Satija worked as an investigative reporter at The Washington Post, where she spent a year taking readers inside one district attorney’s efforts to reform a city police department. She also reported on conflicts of interest between Texas regulators and energy producers in the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri; the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on federal prisons; the business interests of prominent anti-vaccine activists; and the first Trump Administration’s immigration policies.

Satija was also an investigative reporter for the Texas Tribune and Reveal, a podcast from the Center for Investigative Reporting. Her investigation on hurricane vulnerability in Houston won a Peabody Award and was also a finalist for a National Magazine Award and the Livingston Award for Young Journalists. She earned a second National Magazine Award nomination in the prestigious “Public Interest” category for her reporting on Texas’ indigent defense system, which also appeared in Texas Monthly. And her investigative pieces on youth sex trafficking.

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