Episode 4: Jails

In-care-ceration promo

Introducing In-care-ceration, a 6-episode documentary podcast series that features the voices and perspectives of people who are currently or formerly locked up, as well as advocates in the healthcare and criminal justice systems.  The podcast unpacks various ways that the behavioral healthcare and criminal justice systems are entangled, and through that entanglement grow.

Episode 6: Care Reform, Care Otherwise

Show notes: Episode 6: Care Reform, Care Otherwise Episode transcript here [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hoKN3vErafQ-lea8vIuOlUx4RpHmHb2VwNZkAHYxaZw/edit?usp=sharing]. In this episode we explore ways that people are working to build a more caring and care-full world, and to address the harms of our carceral systems whether they are prisons, jails, or hospitals. Some of the people we talk to are interested in engaging with Washington State to change systems, and others are more interested in finding ways to do care otherwise, outside of state systems. This episode features the words of Scout Smedley, SYP, Cindi Fisher, Joshua Wallace, Lauara Van Tosh, Chris Carney, Shaun Glaze, and LeTania Severe, as well as Patreece Spence. We’d like to dedicate this episode, and the whole series to those who lost their lives or their loved ones’ lives – physically or socially - to carceral systems; and to all who have devoted their lives to creating a more just, caring future, one where we aren’t relying on cages or confinement to solve social problems. Thank you!   Resources: Amanda Ong, ”CALM Launches Medic Hotline to Provide Community Health Navigation” [https://southseattleemerald.com/2021/12/14/calm-launches-medic-hotline-to-provide-community-health-navigation/#more-79862] International Peer Respite/Soteria Summit 2021 [https://www.peerrespite-soteria.org/summit-2021/]  Open Dialogue [https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/hide-and-seek/201507/open-dialogue-a-new-approach-to-mental-healthcare] approach to mental healthcare -  Seattle City Council funding for Community Safety Capacity Building/Alternatives to Policing [https://council.seattle.gov/2021/03/15/seattle-city-council-moves-forward-on-alternatives-to-policing-allocates-10-4-million-for-community-safety-capacity-building/]  Mental Health First [https://www.antipoliceterrorproject.org/mh-first-oakland] (Oakland)  CAHOOTS [https://whitebirdclinic.org/cahoots/] (Eugene) Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective [https://batjc.wordpress.com/](BATJC, Bay Area) BATJC Podmapping tool [https://batjc.wordpress.com/resources/pods-and-pod-mapping-worksheet/]   Fireweed Collective [https://fireweedcollective.org/]  Instituted for Development of Human Arts [https://www.idha-nyc.org/] (NYC)

Episode 5: Prisons

Shownotes: Episode 5: Prisons Episode transcript here [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZuJXk5BnRKiVXkTU8Ww9xbbsSrK3AbY3h683Q-penVs/edit?usp=sharing]. In this episode we talk about mental and physical healthcare in Washington’s prisons.  We speak with Tony Tyson, Queen J, and Darnell Jones, all incarcerated voices in our state, who talk to us about accessing care in prison, and also what they or the people around them have done to get or create care. Content warning: this episode includes first-hand accounts of medical neglect and suicidality in prison. Relevant News Articles: Jeanie Lindsay, “Suicides spike at Washington prisons, prisoners say they need more access to mental health care [https://www.opb.org/article/2023/12/21/suicides-spike-at-wa-prisons-prisoners-say-they-need-more-access-to-mental-health-care/]” Jeanie Lindsay, “As Washington state’s prison population shrank, the cost of incarceration went up [https://www.opb.org/article/2024/04/03/washington-state-prison-population-shrank-as-cost-of-incarceration-went-up/]”  Laurel Demkovich, “‘Blindsided’ by a Washington prison closure [https://washingtonstatestandard.com/2023/08/28/washington-state-larch-prison-closure/]”  Warm Closures Tomas Keen, “A “Warm” Closure”  [https://inquest.org/a-warm-closure/] Raymond Williams, “In Washington State, Prison Closure Divides Abolitionist Community [https://shadowproof.com/2023/11/27/in-washington-state-prison-closure-divides-abolitionist-community/]” Jeff McKee Jeffrey McKee, “Inside the Mental Health Unit at Washington State Penitentiary [https://prisonjournalismproject.org/2023/10/26/mental-health-in-prisons-inside-look/]”  Jeff McKee’s writing for us on suicide in prison [https://docs.google.com/document/d/12k3-kH_zqo2ske8pbVEChXBagRh4uZoV2WXTuk9zDxo/edit?usp=sharing] Cultural Awareness Groups in Washington Cultural Awareness Groups Zine [https://criticalresistance.org/resources/cultural-awareness-groups-zine/]   Liberation Media Northwest [https://www.liberationmedianw.org/cultural-collective]  Black Prisoners’ Caucus [https://www.theblackprisonerscaucus.org/about] - and on Instagram [https://www.instagram.com/blackprisonerscaucus/]

Episode 4: Jails

Shownotes Episode 4: Jails Episode transcript here [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bwBuvLWeQ0Fm7L1mMx-gLsOWUO60teV5HPt8bKTB9qM/edit?usp=sharing]. In this episode we talk about mental health in jails – what mental health care looks like in jails, how people with disabilities navigate and experience jail, and how activists and organizers have addressed the mental health crisis in urban jails in Washington.  We speak with Jordan Landry, Tony Tyson, Leslie McCallum, KL Shannon and Patreece Spence. Content warning: this episode includes first-hand accounts of police violence, unhealthy jail conditions, and suicidal ideation.  Relevant news articles Guy Oron, Advocates call for shutdown of King County jail after mounting death toll in facility [https://www.realchangenews.org/news/2023/03/08/advocates-call-shutdown-king-county-jail-after-mounting-death-toll-facility] Lauren Reichenbach - Investigation into Tirhas Tesfatsion’s death says jail officers failed to perform their duties, violated public trust  [https://lynnwoodtoday.com/investigation-into-tirhas-tesfatsions-death-says-jail-officers-failed-to-perform-their-duties-violated-public-trust/] Robert Mittendorf, Proposed agreement spells out Whatcom County jail construction and operations [https://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/politics-government/article287919330.html] Resources Jack Norton, Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, and Judah Schept, The Jail is Everywhere: Fighting the New Geography of Mass Incarceration Shut Down King County Jail - https://www.shutdownkcj.com/ [https://www.shutdownkcj.com/]  No New Lynnwood Jail - https://www.nonewjail.com/ [https://www.nonewjail.com/]  Disability Among Prison and Jail Inmates - https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/dpji1112.pdf [https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/dpji1112.pdf] Washington State Jail Standards Task Force - https://www.atg.wa.gov/task-forces#JailStandards [https://www.atg.wa.gov/task-forces#JailStandards]  Unchain Whatcom - https://unchainwhatcom.com/no-new-jail/ [https://unchainwhatcom.com/no-new-jail/]

Episode 3: Civil commitment

Show Notes: Episode 3: Civil Commitment Episode transcript here [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1N_l_OF4ufq3K-14azUSHJBBWNMUmQ6stUkToOWXRxqI/edit?usp=sharing]. In this episode, we take on the topic of civil commitment and experience. We address hospitalization, the emergency room, and the perspectives of people who work in the system and who receive treatment.  We address ways that civil commitment resembles incarceration. We speak to SYP and Laura Van Tosh, and feature the words of Cindi Fisher – all people whose lives and advocacy have intersected with the civil commitment system. This episode contains descriptions of civil commitment and emergency rooms, including discussions of suicidality. Music by Scout Smedley and editing by Nest Audio Co. Relevant news articles: Joseph Wainer - There’s a Crisis of Violence at Western State Hospital. I Know, I Used to Work There [https://www.thenewstribune.com/opinion/article256634266.html] Joseph O’Sullivan - Western State Hospital loses $53 million in federal funding after failing inspection [https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/western-state-hospital-loses-federal-funding-after-failing-inspection/] Updates: Eílis O’Neill - Seattle Just Got 150 Psych Unit Beds - Is it Enough to Make a Difference? [https://www.kuow.org/stories/seattle-just-got-150-psych-unit-beds-is-it-enough-to-make-a-difference]  King County DCHS Blog - First-Of-Its-Kind Behavioral Health Crisis Center Opens in North King County [https://dchsblog.com/2024/08/12/crisis-center-kirkland/] Resources: Disability Rights Washington - From Hospitals to Handcuffs: Criminalizing Patients in Crisis - https://disabilityrightswa.org/reports/from-hospitals-to-handcuffs/ [https://disabilityrightswa.org/reports/from-hospitals-to-handcuffs/]  Mariam Kaba and Andrea Ritchie: No More Police: A Case for Abolition Fireweed Collective - https://fireweedcollective.org/ [https://fireweedcollective.org/]  Instituted for Development of Human Arts - https://www.idha-nyc.org/ [https://www.idha-nyc.org/]