advocacy and support
resources for people in prison

If you need help while you are locked up, or when you get out, contact:

In Austin, TX:
AIDS Services of Austin
P.O. Box 4874
Austin, TX 78765
Phone: (512) 458-2437
Web: www.asaustin.org

In Boston, MA:
SPAN Inc.
105 Chauncy Street, 6th Floor
Boston, MA 02111
Phone: (617) 423-0750
Web: www.spaninc.org

In Chicago, IL:
Men and Women in Prison Ministries
10 W. 35th Street # 9C5-2
Chicago, IL 60616
Phone: (312) 328-9610
Web: www.mwipm.com

In Los Angeles, CA:
Center for Health Justice
900 Avila Street #301
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Phone: (213) 229-0985
Prison Hotline: (213) 229-0979
Web: www.healthjustice.net

prison
health
news
page 12

Edited By:

Ben Green
Che Gossett
Cliff Wms
Hannah Zellman
James
Jeanette Moody
Laura McTighe
Loretta Miles-Melendez
LuQman Abdullah
Najee Gibson
Roy Hayes
Sara Alvarez
Samuel Withers III
Suzy Subways
Teresa Sullivan
Waheedah Shabazz-El

In New Orleans, LA:
Women With A Vision
1515 South Salcedo Street, Suite 212
New Orleans, Louisiana 70125
Phone: (504) 301-0428
Web: www.wwav-no.org

In New York, NY:
New York Harm Reduction Educators
953 Southern Boulevard, Suite 302
Bronx, NY 10459
Phone: (718) 842-6050
Web: www.nyhre.org

In Philadelphia, PA:
Philadelphia FIGHT
1233 Locust Street, 5th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Phone: (215) 985-4448
Web: www.fight.org

If you need resources in a city not
listed here, write to us! We will
help you track down answers to
your specific questions.
Write to us if you know about a
great organization that is not yet
listed here as a PHN partner.

PHN is a project of Reaching Out: A
Support Group with Action and the
Institute for Community Justice at
Philadelphia FIGHT.

For subscriptions, resources and all
other inquiries write to us at:
Prison Health News
c/o Philadelphia FIGHT
1233 Locust Street, 5th Floor
Philadelphia PA 19107
All subscriptions are free, and are
mailed First Class.

prison health news

-better health care while you are in and when you get outIssue 8, Summer 2010

Who We Are...

We are on the outside, but
many of us were inside before...
and survived it. We are
formerly incarcerated people
and allies talking about health
issues and trying to bring about
a positive change for all people
who are in prison now or ever
have been in the past. This
newsletter is about all of us.

We will be talking about health
issues. For example, what is
good nutrition? Where can you
get services and information on
the outside? We want to take
your health questions seriously
and break down complicated
health information so that it is
understandable.

We’re also here to help you
learn how to get better health
care within your facility and
how to get answers to your
health questions. Don’t get
frustrated. Be persistent. In
prison, it’s often hard to get
what you want, but with health
information, it doesn’t have to
be impossible. Join us in our
fight for our right to health
care and health information.

Read on...

From,
Ben, Che, Cliff, Hannah,
James, Jeanette, Laura,
Loretta, LuQman, Najee,
Roy, Sara, Samuel, Suzy,
Teresa, and Waheedah

Study by Pete Yahnke

In this Issue:

Justseeds ‘Voices from Outside’ portfolio, justseeds.org

Who We Are......................................1

Write an Article!...............................2

Getting Out Alive: Advocating
for Your Meds................................2-3

From the Crack House to the
White House..................................4-5

Hearts on a Wire...........................6-7

“To Help Our People
Through This”................................8-9
Staying Safe
and Healthy in Prison....................10

Information Resources
for People in Prison........................11
Advocacy and Support
Resources for People in Prison.......12

Subscribe!........................................12
page 1

write an article!

We have gotten lots of requests
for articles already, and we know
that everyone who reads this
newsletter will have questions or
their own story to tell.

Every issue, we have five different
feature sections:
1. Body, Mind & Soul –
on the concrete health
information people in prison
need access to in order to
advocate for standard of care
treatment
2. Words to Live By –
on the strategies for getting
health care behind the walls

3. Breaking the Chains –
on the inspirational work of
people who are currently/
formerly in prison fighting for the
lives they want to lead

4. Try This Out –
on incredible organizations and
projects across the country who
are doing the hard work of
rebuilding our communities in a
time of mass imprisonment

5. The Big Picture –
on the political issues that drive
the prison (and prison health!)
crisis in our country

If you want to write an article on
something you think is important
for prison health, send it and we
will consider publishing it in Prison
Health News. You can also write us
first to discuss ideas for articles.
If you want your name kept
confidential, you can sign your article
with your first name or “anonymous.”
page 2

Getting
Out Alive:
by Teresa Sullivan

When I went to jail in 2005, one of
the biggest problems that I had was at
the medication window. One day going
to get my HIV medications at the med
window, I looked at the meds in the
cup and they were the wrong meds.
There was one too many of the same
meds for my HIV medications, and one
med I never saw before. This was a
big problem because I know that taking
the wrong dose of my meds would
make me sick – and the med that I had
never seen before, my doctor did not
order for me.
Being told if I did not take the
medication in the cup that I would have
to go to the hole – that made me very
scared, and so I took the medications.
Let me say, if I knew what I know
today I would have never taken the
medications. I got so sick that they had
to take me to the ER and I could have
died. It is important to know your
rights about taking medication while in
jail.
Today I am an advocate for people
that have HIV/AIDS and are in the
county jails system. I will never let
this happen to someone again while
they are in the county jails system. I
will always make sure that they know
their rights about taking their
medications while in jail, and when
they are about to come home, I will
continue to advocate for their needs.
I thank GOD for John Bell, because
when my son came to visit me, I told
him what was happening to me with
my medication. My son called
Philadelphia FIGHT for me and talked
to John Bell and told him what was

information resources for
people in prison

If you need information while you are locked up, contact:

Fortune News
The Fortune Society
ATTN: Fortune News Subscriptions
29-76 Northern Boulevard
Long Island City, NY 11101
newsletter on criminal justice issues;
to subscribe, send your first name, last
name, ID number, correctional facility,
address, city, state, zipcode
*free to people in prison.

HCV Advocate
PO Box 427037
San Francisco, CA 94142
monthly newsletter on hepatitis C
events, clinical research, and education
(materials also available in Spanish).
*sample issue free to people in prison;
$10 for a year’s subscription

Just Detention International
3325 Wilshire Blvd, Ste 340
Los Angeles, CA 90010
support, resources and advocacy to
address sexual violence behind bars;
survivors should address Legal Mail to
Cynthia Totten, Esq.
*free to people in prison

Project Inform
1375 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103-2621
Hotline: 800-822-7422
information & newsletters on HIV
(materials also available in Spanish);
responses to treatment questions from
people in prison
*free to people in prison

Protecting Your Health & Safety:
Prisoners' Rights
325-pg bound manual explains the
legal rights to health and safety in
prison, and how to enforce those rights
when they are violated.
publication of the Southern Poverty Law
Center, distributed by:
Prison Legal News
P.O. Box 2420
West Brattleboro, VT 05303
*$16 for people in prison

Partnership for Safety and Justice
825 NE 20th Avenue, #250
Portland, OR 97232
support directory with health and legal
organizations, prison book programs,
resources for LGBT people, and more!
*free to people in prison

Prison Legal News
P.O. Box 2420
West Brattleboro, VT 05303
newsletter on the legal rights of people
in prison & recent court rulings
*sample issue $3.50, unused stamps
OK; $24 for 1-year subscription

by Brakie

page 11

Staying
Safe and Healthy in Prison
by John, Waheedah, Mary, Teresa and Ben

THIS IS YOUR RIGHT.
Because sometimes the nurses may
be in a rush and they can make
mistakes, these mistakes can make
you sick or could kill you if you do
not advocate about your meds. THIS
IS YOUR RIGHT.
Too often, people in prison don’t
know their meds when going to the
med window, and too often they don’t
ask questions about what they are
taking, because they don’t know that
they have the right to advocate for
themselves. If the nurse does not
answer your question, then ask to talk
to the sergeant on duty. THIS IS
YOUR RIGHT.
Once you’re in jail, medical staff
supply you with your regular
prescription medications. Usually the
jail staff dispenses only medication
from its infirmary, since it won’t trust
that what you brought in is the real
thing. Sometimes its practitioners try
to substitute a similar medication
for what you normally use.
If this is a problem, have
your doctor specify “no
substitutions” in his or
her letter. Sometimes,
there can be a lag of
24 hours or more
between getting
arrested and
receiving regular
doses of your
medication.

to

Live

By

Soul

For more information, please contact:
John Bell, Waheedah Shabazz-El,
Mary Coco, Teresa Sullivan, and
Ben Green of Philadelphia FIGHT’s
prison outreach team
(see page 12 for FIGHT’s address)

happening to his mother in jail and
asked could he please go see her and
help his mother. John Bell’s job is to
advocate for people in the county jails
system living with the HIV/AIDS
virus. John Bell came to see me, and I
told him what was happening to me
with my medications. By the next
day, I got the right medications that I
needed to stay alive.
Today, not only do I advocate for
those in the county jails, I am also the
Teaching Assistant for the program at
Philadelphia FIGHT called TEACH
Outside. This is a basic HIV/AIDS
101 educational and life skills
program that teaches those living with
the virus how to advocate for
themselves and how to learn to live
again on the outside.
Know your rights when it comes
to advocating for your medications!
Before going to the
medication window,
you should have
had communication
with the doctor about what
meds you will be
taking. Secondly,
you should ask the
doctor if they have a med
chart for you to look at so you
know what your meds are and what
they look like. THIS IS YOUR
RIGHT.
If, for some reason, when you go to
the medication window the meds don’t
look right to you, ask the nurse to
please check the doctor’s order again.

Words

&

page 10

Mind

HIV is ONLY in:
1. Blood
2. Semen
3. Vaginal Fluids
4. Breast Milk
For you to get HIV, that fluid has to
get inside your body. So people are
exposed by having unprotected sex,
sharing needles if they’re using drugs,
and breast-feeding their babies.
People do NOT get HIV through:
- Spitting or Coughing,
because HIV isn’t airborne;
- Sweat, because HIV isn’t in
sweat;
- Touching, because HIV can’t
live on the skin;
- Feces; it’s Hepatitis A that is
transmitted through feces, not
HIV.

HIV exposure can happen in jails
and prisons. But for most of the
things you will encounter on the
inside, the risk of getting HIV is really
low.
Fights—If you are assaulted or are
trying to break up a fight, even if there
is blood, HIV cannot get into your
body unless it enters an open cut.
Bites—Even getting bitten doesn’t
put you at much risk for getting HIV.
HIV isn’t in spit. When you get cut,
blood rushes out—not in. So even if
someone breaks your skin with their
teeth, it would be hard for HIV from
their body to get inside yours.
Sex does happen behind bars.
Condoms are provided on a limited
basis in some places, including state
prisons in Vermont and Mississippi
and in city jails in New York,
Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San
Francisco and the District of
Columbia. Methadone maintenance
programs are rare, and no U.S. prison
has a needle-exchange program.
If you find out that someone in your
facility is HIV positive, keep that
information confidential. It is up to
them to decide who, and when, they
feel safe telling. It could put them at
risk if you tell others and take this
decision away from them.

Body,

We know that there is still a lot of
stigma around HIV in prisons and
jails across the country, and that
access to accurate information can be
one of the most important things for
fighting that stigma.
Throughout the month of June, our
prison outreach team meets with every
CO in the Philly jails at shift change
to do HIV 101 presentations. Our
team is made up of people with HIV,
all of whom are formerly incarcerated.
Many of us were diagnosed with HIV
in the Philly jails. We do these
presentations to break through the fear
that drives HIV stigma, so that
everyone has the information they
need to stay safe and healthy.
Here’s what you need to know...

Advocating for Your Meds

Butterfly, by Samuel Boone

page 3

From
the Crack House to the White
by Waheedah Shabazz-El

Rev. Green counsels and marries
couples divided by prison walls, and
even for monogamous partners she
stresses that condoms are essential
upon release. Speaking in particular
to the experience of heterosexuals but
with words of wisdom for everyone,
she says, “A lot of women are excited
that the man is coming home, and they
don’t take precautions. If you’ve been
faithful, and he’s been faithful, you
still need to use condoms until you’ve
been tested. It’s not about trust – it’s
about caring enough for yourself and
him caring enough for you.”
But working with couples to heal the
pain of being separated by prison
walls is a difficult process. The
interpersonal impact of incarceration
always brings Rev. Green back to the
root of the problem. What if we
stopped relying on prisons for the
illusion of safety? “There’s another
way to look at this besides ‘Lock them
up and throw away the key,” she says.
“What about restitution? If you break
into my house and steal my stuff, I
want my stuff back. If they lock you
up, I’m not getting my stuff back. I
want you working and paying me
back. Imprisonment is a multi-billion
dollar industry. If you have prisoners
and products, you have a profit. We
need to call it what it is. We abolished
slavery, we can stop this prison stuff
too.”

Picture

new policies shut formerly
incarcerated people out of public
housing, jobs, and social safety net
programs.
With so many parents, children,
spouses and caregivers removed from
the community, the emotional,
financial and political support systems
of entire communities are disrupted.
“It’s a strain, not having your loved
one at home,” Rev. Green says. “It’s
not just him doing the time – the loved
one has to do that time too.”
Without support systems that help
individuals through crises of poverty,
they may need to become involved in
the sex trade or drug trade in order to
survive – and both of these increase
the risk of HIV and imprisonment.
AIDS is the leading cause of death for
Black women ages 25 to 34, and the
reality that the U.S. has the highest
rate of imprisonment in human history
has everything to do with that statistic.
“As a people, we really need to fix
some of the pain that people are
experiencing because of racism,” Rev.
Green says. “We have to become the
psychologists, or whatever we can do
to help our people through this time.”
She comes to this work as one who
knows from personal experience and
can facilitate the sharing of wisdom
and compassion between those who
have been there. “Family members
didn’t understand me being in a
relationship with someone in prison.
I had nobody to talk to for many years.
That pain is what birthed this ministry
and support groups for family
members of incarcerated people.”

Big

Seven weeks ago December 8,
2009, I’m the person who was
invited to the White House to
participate in a discussion with some
of President Obama’s top officials on
crafting a National HIV/AIDS
Strategy with the specific needs of
Women as a priority of that legislation. I knew it was real and I knew I
was awake because even in my
wildest dreams I never thought this
was something I could achieve,
especially after addiction,
incarceration and AIDS.
What a journey, from seven years
ago, being that person who was diagnosed with AIDS, drug addicted and
sitting in that jail waiting and wishing
for a death that never came. What
did come, however, was a mentor
through a prison reentry linkage
program. That mentor, John H. Bell,
came in the person of a formerly
incarcerated individual who had beat a
drug addiction and who had survived
living with HIV for over 20 years. I
listened intently to this mentor tell me
the challenges he had overcome; who
he was now and where he had come
from. By the end of that teary-eyed
visit, I had become that person who
had gained some clarity of purpose
and had experienced an awakening
of the spirit. My focus was no longer
on how I was going to die in jail with
a drug addiction and AIDS. My focus
was now about how I was going to
live in society when I got out. I was
no longer the person looking at
where I had been. I was becoming the
person who was envisioning where I

The

I’m the person who thought I
would kick the bucket from addiction
in that crack house, where I lived and
died on a daily basis, seven years ago.
I’m the person who had a good job
but couldn’t get to it because I was
stuck in that crack house, where I
lived and died on a daily and nightly
basis. I’m the person who finally got
arrested in a drug raid at that crack
house where I lived when the
Narcotics Unit moved in with their
SWAT Team. I’m the person who
landed in jail with a bail that was way
out of the reach of my family, so I sat
for six months (had to remain in jail).
I’m the person who took a test for
HIV while I sat…whose results came
back positive, compounded with an
AIDS diagnosis. I’m the person who
would lie in that cell at night and
instead of dreaming I entertained
thoughts of death and dying…not by
way of crack this time, but by way of
HIV. Contemplating the “Hell Fire”
because I had contracted AIDS, gotten
myself hooked on drugs, now I was
sitting in jail facing a load of felony
convictions…and I was a Muslim.
The only thing I was certain of at that
time was how close I had been drawn
to the Hell Fire.
I’m the person who had made a
shambles of her life and decided that
death was the only way out. I’m the
person who wished for death…but just
like all my other wishes that never
came true…death never came either.
That was seven years ago. But, then
they say seven is a lucky
page 4
number.

For more information, please contact:
Men and Women in Prison Ministries
10 W. 35th Street # 9C5-2
Chicago, IL 60616
page 9

“To
Help Our People Through This”
by Suzy Subways

When the Legal System Fails

The Entire Family is Incarcerated

Chains

page 8

Today I am a person who no
longer uses drugs, a day at a time.
I’m a person who gives back what
was so freely given to her. I have
become a mentor for people just like
me. No individual becomes a hero by
themselves. It is only by working
together that we can bring justice to
the world. Even President Obama has
let people down by proposing a freeze
on spending for lifesaving programs in
our communities. We need to raise
our voices now.
Today I am a person for whom
HIV is no longer a secret. In contrast,
HIV turned out to be a situation that
has brought significant purpose to my
life. Today I am the person who no
longer wishes for death, but instead I
aspire to immortality
through being a
resonating voice for
those behind bars, in
addictions recovery
and women living
with HIV/AIDS who
haven’t found their
own voices yet or
who choose to speak
softly.
I’m that person who
has gone from scared
to fierce, dying to
living, secrets to
acceptance, addiction
to recovery, from
nightmares to dreams,
from hell and back…
from the Crack
House to the White
page 5
Possibilities by Mary Tremonte, Justseeds ‘Voices from Outside’ portfolio, justseeds.org House.

was going from that moment on.
Believe you me; the White House was
not a part of that vision.
Released on house arrest to my
son’s home, I carried with me the
secret about my AIDS diagnosis, but
I also carried that spiritual awakening
that had came about through my
mentor. Even though the courts didn’t
stipulate me, I knew I had to get into a
drug and alcohol program because my
incarceration was a direct result of my
addiction. And I knew in order to gain
acceptance and become empowered
over my AIDS diagnosis (like my
mentor), I had to seek out the services
and support systems that had worked
for him. Sounds pretty simple? For
me, these were the magic bullets.

The

intimately connected with her
counseling work with individuals and
small groups, rebuilding the
community support networks torn
apart by mass imprisonment.
Because of mandatory minimum
sentences, discriminatory crack
possession laws, three-strikes laws and
other hallmarks of the “war on drugs,”
there are now 10 times as many
people in prison than there were 20
years ago. People of African descent
represent 56% of those imprisoned for
drug offenses but only 14% of illicit
drug users.
“The disparity makes you think
nobody’s committing crimes but
African Americans and Hispanics,”
Rev. Green says. In the past decade,

Breaking

Reverend Doris Green, founder of
Men and Women in Prison Ministries
and director of community affairs at
the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, has
been working with people in prison
and their families for decades, and
fighting AIDS since the epidemic
began. She is organizing a coalition of
grassroots community organizations to
demand access to condoms in the
Illinois state prison system, based on
the knowledge that good prison health
is good community health.
She believes that people in prison
are not “criminals,” but members of
families and neighborhoods. “The
people on the inside are the people on
the outside,” she says. Rev. Green
sees her political advocacy as

House

Hearts
on a Wire
by Najee Gibson

organizations, so if you do have the
virus, you can get care when you get
out. If you’re transgender, we know
which doctor is best, so you don’t
have to go out and prostitute to buy
hormones or be looked at like a freak,
and the doctor’s like, “I can’t write
you a script for that.” So when you get
a letter from Hearts on a Wire, I
encourage people of the LGBT
community, and even those who are
not, to write back. Because you’re
going to hear back from us.
Beyond writing and answering letters, Hearts on a Wire attended a meeting for re-entry services in
Philadelphia and presented a list of
demands. We are hoping to do more
political, anti-prison and gender
liberationist work in the future. We
would encourage people in other states
to get started with just the basics. Get
some construction paper and crayons,
and start writing to people who are
incarcerated from the LGBT
community. It doesn’t take much. One
or two people can do a lot of things. It
could be small – it could be in somebody’s basement. Mail is very, very,
very important. It makes you feel
wanted when you get a letter.
You can say you’ve been adopted by
the activist community. I’ve learned
that there’s hope. There’s people who
care. There’s power in voices.

Out

pill line? You got the hot shit?” I’d lie,
“No, I’m a diabetic.”
There are some hateful people who
feel that you should just be silent and
let whatever happens happen to you. I
encourage everyone to find out your
senator’s address – yes, you might get
their secretary writing you back, but
it’s going to come back as legal mail.
When you get legal mail, you’re
called to the front desk to sign a list.
And they’ll say, “This one knows how
to read and write.” Because I’m sorry
to say, the stigma attached to a lot of
people of color and of the LGBT
community who are incarcerated is
that we’re dumb. So I’d encourage,
even as a front – keep a book in your
hand.
Prayer and meditation help, staying
aware of your surroundings, and also
reaching out to the outside world. You
have to network. At Hearts on a Wire,
we’re not case managers, but we steer
people in the right direction. You’re
going to know about resources like
food banks. It helps to
know of AIDS
service

This

Philadelphia county jails, you can get
condoms off the commissary list or go
to the nurses’ station, no questions
asked, but in the state facilities, it’s
like, no. Automatically you are
engaging in sexual activities, and that
is one of the top-notch no-nos, and
they call that sodomizing. An inmate
gets a misconduct and put in a
restrictive housing unit. And if
someone’s coming up for parole, that
can hold them back.
From the door, you’re stripped of
any kind of dignity. Once I had on
some jailhouse eyeliner – I took some
Vaseline and a lead pencil and rubbed
it on a piece of white paper, and made
a light paste. This CO’s response was,
“If you don’t wipe that off your eyes,
you’re going to get a misconduct for
disobeying a direct order.”
There are certain facilities where
glitter is not allowed. We made a card
and we sprinkled some glitter with
some Elmer’s glue, and the card got
sent back. Security will either tell
them to destroy it, or they’ll see our
P.O. box and they won’t let the person
have that mail.
Some people walk around for 5
years and don’t go on medication
when they need to, so that nobody will
know they have HIV. First the staff
knows, and then it
cascades. It’s
supposed to be
confidential. But
certain staff and
folks in prison
were like, “Damn,
why are you in the

Try

A lot of people from the lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)
community feel lonely in prison
because either their families gave up
hope for them, or they’re so caught up
in the system that they feel like there’s
no hope for them when they come out.
I did 5 ½ years. I heard about Hearts
on a Wire like 2 months before I got
released from prison. They were doing
an anonymous questionnaire for
members of the LGBT community in
state facilities: Were you getting health
care? How were you being treated? I
took the survey and informed them
that I was going to be released in
April. So they opened their arms and
told me to come into the office.
That’s how I got plugged in, and
from there, things started to blossom.
I liked what I heard. All of us need to
be understood and cared for, and
someone to identify with our hurt.
Hearts on a Wire could identify with
my hurt, and the bullshit that I put up
with being incarcerated, being a
person of color – the no-nos, the
punishments. Hearts on a Wire is
about 2 years old. We cater to inmates
in state facilities in Pennsylvania. We
meet one night a week, and you pass
on what was given to you. We make
cards that say, “Keep your head up,”
and send them to inmates.
The survey’s been done, and one
definite concrete thing we know is
that there’s no safe sex protection
given out in state facilities. I feel very
strongly about that, and it’s one of the
main things we’re going
page 6
to aim for. In

> > Look for "Glitter is not Allowed: Experiences of Trans and Gender Variant People in
Pennsylvania's Prison Systems," a report by Hearts on a Wire on the results of their
survey with LGBT people in Pennsylvania prisons. It will be released this summer!

For more information, write to:
Hearts on a Wire
P.O. Box 36831
Philadelphia, PA 19107

page 7