What to Know About COVID-19 Tests

By M. Ali
From PHN Issue 52, Spring 2023

COVID-19 is an illness caused by a coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. It spreads when a person with the virus (symptomatic or asymptomatic) releases droplets and particles from their mouth or nose. This can occur when they breathe, cough, or sneeze in close contact with another person. It can also occur in poorly ventilated or crowded indoor settings, such as correctional and detention facilities. The best way to prevent COVID19 infection and reinfection is to practice basic hygiene like washing your hands with soap and water, wear a well-fitting mask, stay up to date with vaccines, and avoid contact with individuals who may have the virus. While the use of masks to prevent the spread of this virus has been politicized and debated, randomized controlled trials have found that community-level mask wearing does reduce COVID-19 infections and may be an especially effective resource in crowded facilities.

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Making Sense Of The Letters Behind Your Healthcare Provider’s Name

By Seth Lammming and Hannah Faeben
From PHN Issue 51, Winter 2023

At some point in time, you’ve probably been in a doctor’s office or medical facility and noticed all sorts of letters after people’s names. MD, PA, DO, NP, RN, the list goes on. The alphabet soup can get confusing. In this article, we will break down the basic differences between physicians and mid-level providers and what some of these letters mean.

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Ask PHN: Colon Cancer

By Belinda Christensen
From PHN Issue 50, Summer/Fall 2022

Dear Prison Health News,
Thank you for having me on your mailing list. By the way, do you know anything about colon cancer? My father died of it in July of 1999, and one of my brothers died of it in 2013, so I know it runs in my family. I would highly appreciate learning more about it, if you can.
— Gabriel Fuentes, California

Dear Mr. Fuentes,
Thank you for your letter, and for the wonderful drawing. I’m very sorry to hear that your father and brother passed away from colon cancer. I’ve provided some information below about screening and prevention from the American Cancer Society and the Colorectal Cancer Alliance, two organizations that work to educate people about cancer prevention and treatment.

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Abortion Rights Update: ROE V. WADE OVERTURNED

By Lily H-A
From PHN Issue 50, Summer/Fall 2022

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade, stating that the U.S. Constitution does not protect the right to abortion. The new ruling does not restrict abortion on its own, but gives states the unlimited ability to restrict abortion.

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How To Apply For Compassionate Release In Pennsylvania: An Interview With A Jailhouse Lawyer

By Dan Lockwood
From PHN Issue 50, Summer/Fall 2022

Bryant Arroyo is a longtime activist and jailhouse lawyer with expertise in environmentalism, advocacy, and the law. His recent success was helping Mr. Bradford “Bub” Gamble successfully obtain compassionate release. PHN is grateful that Mr. Arroyo has agreed to be interviewed to share his insights so that others can also be granted the same dignity that Mr. Gamble and his family received as a result of his compassionate release.
This information applies to Pennsylvania, but there are similar rules in other states and the federal system that can be found in the prison law library.

PHN: What is compassionate release?

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A Tool in the Struggle to End Medical Copays

By PHN Editors
From PHN Issue 50, Summer/Fall 2022

Activists in Pennsylvania have started a coalition to end the $5 copay for medical care in state prisons. The coalition includes FAMM, the Pennsylvania Prison Society, the Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration (CADBI), the Institutional Law Project, and Physicians for Criminal Justice Reform—and now Prison Health News has joined too. For those in prison in Pennsylvania, you can help! We need to show the DOC that the copays are truly a hardship for incarcerated people and their families. To do that, you can start using the grievance process when you are unable to afford a copay. The DOC tracks grievances, so seeing grievances over copays will help them understand how often people in prison can’t pay. If you’re not in Pennsylvania, you can do this too, but there is more power in numbers where there is a group of activists taking action together.

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Prisoners’ Health Must Matter

By Bobby Bostic

From PHN Issue 47, Fall 2021

Although they have committed crimes, prisoners are still entitled to adequate healthcare
They are still human beings that should get medical treatment that’s fair
To be captured and denied care by your captor is a form of torture
As a result, you also suffer mentally and emotionally from your internal physical scorture

Locked away from society, you have no one to call out and cry to
You file your medical grievances to demand the treatment that you are due
For many decades, prison advocates have been litigating against greedy medical providers
Battling against powerful law firms hired by government insiders

Eating Healthy with Diabetes in Prison

By Donna Ballard

From PHN Issue 41, Winter 2020

With me being diabetic and in prison, it’s hard to eat healthy. To eat healthy in prison, you really have to go hungry. They serve us a lot of bread, corn, tortillas, and potatoes. We eat a lot of starches and white food that turns to sugar. We have to learn to eat only half of what they serve. If you eat your
veggies, it’s a start. Some meats.

You get a lot of sodium from commissary food, and starches and fatty foods. There are ways to eat better, but it’s always small portions. Now, if you go to the store, you can get stuff for yourself that will help you. At the store, you get peanuts, energizer mix and M&M’s, mix it together to make a snack mix. You can snack on it all week. Jalapeño peppers, meats—some things are good. Check the labels for contents. I hope my sharing has helped.

Managing Diabetes in Prison

By Timothy Hinkhouse

From PHN Issue 41, Winter 2020

I conducted an interview with my neighbor, J. Parker, who is a man I have known for several years. He is a 51-year-old man who has been diagnosed with diabetes for the past 13 years of his life. He has had lots of things on his plate that he has had to face in his lifetime in addition to diabetes. He has been incarcerated for the past 25 years, and he has an out date of 2023. This makes him worried about how he will take care of his diabetes, eat healthy, and still keep his positive outlook on life. In prison, everything has been taken care of for you. Out in the free world, we have to take care of ourselves, which can be scary for someone getting out after spending over half their life in prison.