How Loved Ones Outside Can Advocate for People in Prison


By Theresa Shoatz

From PHN Issue 25, Summer 2015

For readers who have family, friends or a partner on the outside to help them get urgently needed health care, here are some suggestions for those outside prison to try. Philadelphia activist Theresa Shoatz perfected these steps while advocating for her father, former Black Panther Russell Maroon Shoatz, a political prisoner in Pennsylvania. As she says, “I have a passion to keep him healthy because one day, we’ll get him out.”

10 steps for loved ones on the outside:

  1. Your loved one in prison will probably need to fill out a medical release form to let you access their health information. In many places, they can ask a counselor for this form. Continue reading “How Loved Ones Outside Can Advocate for People in Prison” →

Getting from Monday to Tuesday: Coping with Long-term Incarceration

By Patrice L. Daniels

From PHN Issue 25, Summer 2015

Knowledge of Self: A better understanding of who I am (and am not) has given me a sense of security and confidence when facing whatever life throws at me—as well as whatever I decide to embark upon. Continue reading “Getting from Monday to Tuesday: Coping with Long-term Incarceration” →

Immigrants in Texas Want Health, Freedom

by Suzy Subways

From PHN Issue 24, Spring 2015

   Immigrants held in two federal Texas facilities run by profit-driven private companies are refusing to tolerate neglect of their health and unsafe conditions. Continue reading “Immigrants in Texas Want Health, Freedom” →

Presentation

by Fatima Malika Shabazz

From PHN Issue 24, Spring 2015

   My name is Fatima Malika Shabazz. I am an African American transwoman currently incarcerated in the gulags of California. It is great that we can get feminizing hormone treatments in the system now. But there is still the problem of presentation. That is, being able to present every day as a woman, beyond the breast growth that comes along with being on hormones. Continue reading “Presentation” →

Truly Understanding the Connection between HIV and Incarceration

By Laura McTighe

From PHN Issue 24, Spring 2015

   We know that HIV and incarceration overlap. One in seven people with HIV will pass through our prisons and jails this year. But knowing that HIV and incarceration overlap doesn’t tell us why. Understanding why is critical if we are to end AIDS. Continue reading “Truly Understanding the Connection between HIV and Incarceration” →

PTSD: The Enemy Within

By S. Muhammad Hyland
From PHN Issue 23, Winter 2015

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an anxiety disorder that can arise after an actual or threatened death or serious injury to self or others, too often goes undiagnosed. Formerly known as shell shock syndrome, PTSD was once considered to plague only soldiers. Today, statistics tell a different story.

Neighborhood Violence

Denizens of inner cities across America also suffer from this dangerous disorder but routinely go unnoticed. If PTSD can be successfully used to defend violent criminal behavior perpetrated by current or former troops, it should work that same way for inner-city minorities. Both groups of people are subject to the same feelings created by their respective environments. Continue reading “PTSD: The Enemy Within” →

Dining Hall Boycott at Pennsylvania’s Coal Township Prison

by Incarcerated Citizens Coalition

From PHN Issue 22, Fall 2014

From June 16 to 23, men at State Correctional Institution (SCI) Coal Township in Pennsylvania initiated a 1-week, peaceful boycott of the Inmate Dining Hall in response to the implementation of the Department of Corrections’ (DOC) “efficiency diet” at the prison. The men supported one another by sharing food and commissary items on the units. The boycott was overwhelmingly successful on the West Side of the prison, where over 70% of the men participated, with only 20 to 25 individuals per unit/wing going down to the dining hall per meal. Continue reading “Dining Hall Boycott at Pennsylvania’s Coal Township Prison” →

Is There Any Help for My OCD?

By Dean Stone

From PHN Issue 21, Summer 2014

If I had one nickel for every time I heard of someone here in prison having some odd behaviors or being labeled OCD, I’d be able to afford that crack team of lawyers who would get me out of here. But recent articles and books indicate that a great deal of progress in treating OCD can occur even without intensive psychotherapy or medication. People in prison have the opportunity to use the four-step treatment method outlined by Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz in his book, Brain Lock: Free Yourself from Obsessive-Compulsive Behavior. Continue reading “Is There Any Help for My OCD?” →

Ending the Spectrum of Violence Against Women: The Positive Women’s Network

By Teresa Sullivan

From PHN Issue 21, Summer 2014

“We, as women living with HIV, envision a life free from violence, coercion, and discrimination for all people. We, as women living with HIV, demand an end to the many different forms of violence faced by all women, including physical, emotional, psychological, religious, sexual, institutional, and economic violence, and the trauma that violence leaves in its wake.” —Positive Women’s Network, USA

When we hear the word “violence,” the first thing we visualize is the physical abuse of someone. And women living with HIV are indeed vulnerable to physical violence because of stigma and ignorance. This reality was made brutally clear yet again a few weeks ago with the heartbreaking murder of Elisha Henson, who was killed in Texas because of her HIV status. A survey conducted by the Positive Women’s Network, USA (PWN-USA) last year found that 72% of women living with HIV who responded were survivors of intimate partner violence. However, for PWN-USA, ending violence against women includes ending a spectrum of human rights violations, including but not limited to physical violence, that women have faced for many generations throughout history. Continue reading “Ending the Spectrum of Violence Against Women: The Positive Women’s Network” →

The Lasting Impact of Brain Injury

by Drew Nagele, MJ Schmidt, and Monica Vaccaro
From PHN Issue 21, Summer 2014

Each year, there are 2.5 million new traumatic brain injuries in the United States. In fact, it is estimated that 13.5 million people—or 4.5% of the population—are living with some type of acquired brain injury.
The number of people who are living with a brain injury in prisons is far greater than we would expect, and most of these injuries were never diagnosed or treated. Recent research suggests that about 60% of people in prison have had an acquired brain injury sometime in their life, most often prior to becoming incarcerated. This is important, because the problems that result from a brain injury make almost all aspects of life harder. Brain injury can make a person more likely to make poor decisions, increasing their risk for getting in trouble with the law and decreasing their likelihood of being successful in everyday life. The effects of brain injuries also can make it harder for a person to succeed in prison education programs or to meet parole conditions.

Continue reading “The Lasting Impact of Brain Injury” →