by Lisa Strawn
From PHN Issue 30, Fall 2016
I’m writing to give people in prison advice on how to put together a memorial or celebration. In June, I put together a Celebration of Life for the Orlando shooting victims at the facility where I’m housed. Continue reading “How to Organize a Memorial or Celebration”
FROM THE 2016 DISCHARGE PLANNING MANUAL
From PHN Issue 30, Fall 2016
If you are going to be released, there are a lot of things to think about first. Are you going to get medical assistance? How will you continue to get medical care for your HIV? Where is a good medical provider you can see? What happens if you can’t pay for medical care? How can you make sure that you won’t miss any medications? Does your prison or jail give you a supply of medications, a medical discharge summary and/or the name of a doctor to see once you are out? There is a lot to plan for. Below are some tips to help you to plan for your HIV care on the outside. Continue reading “Preparing for Your HIV Care on the Outside”
by Bobby Bostic
From PHN Issue 29, Summer 2016
Prison is a place where you can find scholars of every kind. The system can lock up a person’s body, but they can’t incarcerate our minds. Right here, we have some of the world’s greatest minds. We have scientists, mathematicians, and preachers. In fact, many of you have excelled in the most difficult of all politics—prison politics. These politics can get really messy. But people in here network to make things happen on scales great and small. We must continue to apply ourselves and not settle for a label that society has placed on us. Continue reading “Some of the World’s Greatest Minds Are in Prison”
By Lucy Gleysteen
From PHN Issue 29, Summer 2016
Painful emotions can sometimes feel unmanageable. If you are feeling an emotional crisis and don’t have someone to reach out to, you may want to shift your emotional state to something that feels more tolerable. Writing can act as one of the building blocks towards creating a degree of emotional safety for yourself. Continue reading “Writing to Heal”
By Thomas Michael Simmons, IPE
From PHN Issue 29, Summer 2016
Grief is a normal and natural experience that often involves powerful feelings—a reaction to significant emotional loss. Traumas such as catastrophic illness, job loss, divorce, abuse, harassment, amputation, injury, rape, and death of a loved one can trigger a process that brings intense anguish. Despite its inevitability, most are unprepared for its roller coaster ride of shock, anxiety, isolation, numbness, confusion, depression, anger, sadness, irritability, and sense of emptiness. Concentration is lost, eating and sleeping patterns shot. A world once familiar is now foreign and hostile to us. Yet, tomorrow still comes. Continue reading “Finding Solace”
by Suzy Subways
From PHN Issue 29, Summer 2016
Did you know some laws make punishments much harsher if you are living with HIV? In Pennsylvania, if someone in prison is convicted of spitting on a guard, 10 years can be added to their sentence if they have HIV. Many states have similar laws. Do you think that’s fair? Continue reading “Making Sure HIV Isn’t Treated Like a Crime”
By Philadelphia FIGHT’s Project TEACH Team
From PHN Issue 29, Summer 2016
All HIV medications have side effects, but most of them are manageable. Since you can’t always get the high quality health care you deserve in prison, here are some tips to help. Continue reading “Managing HIV Medication Side Effects”
By Russell Auguillard
From PHN Issue 29, Summer 2016
My days consist of reading, exercising, writing, studying criminal and civil law, working on my case, studying medical periodicals as well as other studies, and watching television programs. With these particular routines, I manage to basically keep myself occupied. Yes, of course, doing the same thing all the time has a tendency to get boring. But when it comes to that point, you can do the same thing but switch it up. Continue reading “Surviving Your Stay in Solitary Confinement”
By Robert Andrew Bartlett, Sr.
From PHN Issue 28, Spring 2016
An incarcerated person is not required to sign anything. When a person in prison seeks medical care, the same rules apply as in other situations involving important legal rights. Don’t sign any document without first reading it carefully. Then sign it only if it benefits you. Trust no one who works for the prison system. Continue reading “Read It First”
By Brother W. (Uthman) Williams
From PHN Issue 28, Spring 2016
The New York State prison health care system has been broken for a long time now. In 1977, women incarcerated in New York brought civil rights claims challenging medical care. Chief Judge Kaufman responded: “The sad often desperate plight of many incarcerated in our nation’s prisons is most dramatically revealed by the all too frequent petitions of inmates who have been denied access to basic medical services.” Continue reading “Fight For Your Medical Rights!”
Prison Health News 