“If You Want to Live, Don’t Drink the Water”

“If You Want to Live, Don’t Drink the Water”

This story is part of the Inside/Out Journalism Project by Type Investigations, which works with incarcerated reporters to produce ambitious, feature-length investigations, with support from the Puffin Foundation. Donald “Curly” Brooks lifted his shirt and stared intently into the mirror of his prison cell. The warped, thick metal never gave him a clear picture of himself. In his 45 years inside prisons across the state, he rarely saw his image …