When journalist Susie Cagle first spoke to Ajamu, who’s incarcerated in California’s Central Valley, the flood water was growing closer. “We really don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said, from a prison complex in the Tulare Basin, where a dried up lake came back to life after months of heavy storms. Some of the 8,000 prisoners feared they’d be abandoned.
In an engaging, accessible style, Cagle’s story explores how the state’s decision to place the facilities in a dry lakebed despite warnings of future flooding and a volatile climate put prisoners such as Ajamu at risk.
The 70-plus panel comic combined narrative storytelling, data visualization and interactivity. Here are some highlights:
The comic raised a pressing larger question: With many facilities located in places that are vulnerable to climate change-fueled floods and wildfires—and few corrections departments releasing details of their preparations—what risks are facing prisoners and the surrounding communities?
“That’s the scary part,” Ajamu told her. “We’ll never know until it happens.”
“In Harm’s Way” is a smart look at topics that intersect in a way you might not expect, showing the cumulative effects of decades of decision-making all reaching an inflection point. The presentation as a comic brought characters and data to life, and allowed the people impacted most, the prisoners at Corcoran State Prison, to be front and center.
