Emergency homeless shelters are supposed to be safe havens. But amid reports of violence, abuse and fraud, outsiders aren’t allowed in to see how the facilities operate.

A CalMatters investigation based on hundreds of public records requests finds that California’s billion-dollar shelter system is deadlier than its jails — and the vast majority of residents remain homeless.

• Main investigation: ‘A volunteer jail’: Inside the scandals and abuse pushing California’s homeless out of shelters
• Summary story: 7 takeaways from our investigation into California homeless shelters
• News story: California passed a law to fix unsafe homeless shelters. Cities and counties are ignoring it
• Legal story: CalMatters lawsuit forces LA officials to turn over secret homeless shelter complaints
• Enterprise story: Meth, death and abuse: Inside the private security forces patrolling California’s homeless