InvestigateTV+: Identifying potential causes, solutions to poor literacy rates

(InvestigateTV) — The path to prison is often paved with illiteracy. InvestigateTV+ takes an in-depth look at the relationship between incarceration and low literacy rates.

In this episode of InvestigateTV+, we examine:

• The connection between low literacy rates and incarceration in Georgia, following a former detainee who earned her GED while in jail, and highlighting new state laws banning controversial reading methods.
• Why older adults are frequently targeted by financial fraud.
• The “Memaw Brigade,” a group of volunteer seniors who help train first responders by role-playing medical emergencies.
• Portland’s innovative solution to downtown crow problems, where trained falcons are used to relocate the large flocks away from business districts without harming the birds.

Georgia’s ongoing battle with literacy, impact on incarceration

Thirty years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice warned that the failure to learn to read was not just linked to delinquency, but a likely cause of it.

That prediction is playing out today across Georgia, where low literacy rates remain persistent and incarceration rates remain the highest of any democratic country in the world.

“It’s 100% a link,” said Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith. “If you don’t have literacy and you don’t have an education, you are walking down a path of recidivism [and] criminal activity.”

InvestigateTV+ explored the connection between Georgia’s literacy crisis and its overpopulated jails and prisons, revealing how inadequate reading instruction in schools may be setting up thousands of children for failure, and in some cases, a future behind bars.

Elaborate Medicare phone scam targets seniors

“Painful, because I knew then I was in a scam and I thought I had to follow the rules to get my Medicare benefits back.”

The victim of a Medicare scam talked with our investigators to help you recognize an elaborate phone scam.

This elaborate scheme is targeting seniors and their Medicare benefits.

A Wisconsin woman, who we’re only identifying as Janet, says she was coerced into believing she lost her benefits and had to cooperate to get them back.

Safety-minded grandparents volunteer to act out medical scenarios for paramedic training

Just outside St. Louis, a group known as “The Memaw Brigade” plays a critical role in the community.

This safety-minded group of grandmothers and grandfathers helps first responders better diagnose falls.

Millions of visits to the emergency rooms each year are due to falls, and around a million fall-related hospitalizations occur, according to the CDC.

The seniors of “The Memaw Brigade” help St. Charles County Ambulance District first responders with their training by acting out medical emergencies.

Falconer swoops in to help with Portland’s crow problem

Portland is facing a rising tide of crows. While birds have their charm, their droppings are a dirty dilemma. Now, a special team is swooping in and taking flight with a clever solution.

During the winter months, every night in Portland, about 23,000 crows settle into the city - and it’s Guy the hawk’s job to scare them out.

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