prisons

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

The Only Openly LGBTQ Prisoner-Led Community in Tennessee

I thought I was too old to have to worry about being raped in prison. But as his sweat dripped…

July 26, 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

Harm Reduction Meets People Where They’re at, Unless They’re at a Prison

Harm reductionists on the outside often say the work happens in a legal gray area. That real harm reduction plays…

June 27, 2023

Our Prison Is Used to Mental Illness. Taking Care of Our Own Was New.

In 20 years of incarceration across four different Washington State Department of Corrections (WDOC) facilities, I don't remember seeing someone…

June 22, 2023

COVID Left Our Private Prison With a New Normal: “Rolling Lockdowns”

Like with so many prisons across the country, the pandemic sent Tennessee's South Central Correctional Facility (SCCF) into a state…

June 21, 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

Making Phone Calls From Our Prison Costs Us More Than Just the Money

Thirty years ago, Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) prisoners were only allowed one 15-minute phone call per month. You made…

June 12, 2023

GA Escalation of Gang Prosecutions Boosts Gang Power in Prisons

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) has been bolstering his "tough on crime" agenda by promising that the state will prosecute…

June 7, 2023