Jonathan Kirkpatrick & Kastalia Medrano

Jonathan is currently incarcerated at Washington Corrections Center, where he trains peer educators in HIV and hepatitis C harm reduction. He’s also a Teacher’s Assistant for re-entry programming, and crafts quilts out of recycled materials to donate to nonprofits for fundraising. His writing has been published by the Appeal, Truthout, Jewish Currents and the Seattle Journal of Social Justice. His ID number in Washington State Department of Corrections is #716850, and until WDOC corrects a 28-year-old paperwork error his name in Securus is “Jonathon.”

Kastalia is Filter‘s deputy editor. She previously worked at a number of other media outlets and wouldn’t recommend the drug coverage at any of them. When not at Filter, she works with drug users in NYC and drug checkers in North Carolina to track hyperlocal supply changes, and cohosts a national stimulant users call with Isaac Jackson. She uses meth daily and other drugs sometimes.