Jonathan Kirkpatrick

COVID Testing in Our Prison Has Been Used to Harm, Not Help

In early July, for the first time since COVID-19 protocols were lifted in April, a general-population prisoner at Washington Corrections…

July 27, 2023

Violence Harm Reduction: How Peer De-Escalation Works Inside Prisons

In 1992, the year I learned I had HIV, a friend got me a dishwasher job at a restaurant in…

July 18, 2023

Sharing Needles as Street Kids in LA, During the Rise of the HIV Epidemic

In 1990 Los Angeles, the kids who did sex work had communal syringes stashed in hiding places around the city.…

July 10, 2023

As Blake Decision Expires, New WA Drug Law Ushers in Two-Tier System

On July 1, as Washington State's embattled "Blake decision" expires, a new drug possession law takes effect. After a winding…

June 30, 2023

Prisoners Near Release Face a Choice: Not Getting Meds, or Not Going Home

[Read Part 1 of this story here] When prisoners with release dates enter the final years of their sentence, Washington…

June 20, 2023

Medical Privacy Is Still Our Right in Prison, Unless It Involves Psych Meds

Just before the pandemic hit, when my Washington Corrections Center (WCC) job assignment was Maintenance crew, I fell off a…

June 15, 2023

WA Prisons Staffing Model Is Harmful. No Other States Use It. Why Keep It?

Around 30 years ago, Washington State Department of Corrections (WDOC) took an unusual approach to the way it allocated staff…

June 6, 2023

Allowing Vapes in Our Prison Would Be Violence Harm Reduction, Too

Washington state banned public smoking on December 8, 2005. The Washington State Department of Corrections (WDOC), however, had been preparing…

May 31, 2023

Harm Reduction Overlooks Hep A and B. They Matter Here in Prison.

On May 7, UNAIDS called for prisoner access to harm reduction—medication for opioid use disorder, sterile syringes and condoms—to reduce…

May 10, 2023

With No Meds for Meth Use, He Prepares to Leave Prison—and Return

[Read Part 1 of this story here] Larry Vessey Jr. is less than four months out from his release from…

May 4, 2023