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Episode 6: Care Reform, Care Otherwise

Episode transcript here.

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”

International Peer Respite/Soteria Summit 2021 

Open Dialogue approach to mental healthcare - 

Seattle City Council funding for Community Safety Capacity Building/Alternatives to Policing 

Mental Health First (Oakland) 

CAHOOTS (Eugene)

Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective (BATJC, Bay Area)

BATJC Podmapping tool  

Fireweed Collective 

Instituted for Development of Human Arts (NYC)  

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Episode 5: Prisons

Episode transcript here.

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”

Jeanie Lindsay, “As Washington state’s prison population shrank, the cost of incarceration went up” 

Laurel Demkovich, “‘Blindsided’ by a Washington prison closure” 

Warm Closures

Tomas Keen, “A “Warm” Closure” 

Raymond Williams, “In Washington State, Prison Closure Divides Abolitionist Community”

Jeff McKee

Jeffrey McKee, “Inside the Mental Health Unit at Washington State Penitentiary” 

Jeff McKee’s writing for us on suicide in prison

Cultural Awareness Groups in Washington

Cultural Awareness Groups Zine  

Liberation Media Northwest 

Black Prisoners’ Caucus - and on Instagram

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Episode 4: Jails

Episode transcript here.

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

Lauren Reichenbach - Investigation into Tirhas Tesfatsion’s death says jail officers failed to perform their duties, violated public trust 

Robert Mittendorf, Proposed agreement spells out Whatcom County jail construction and operations

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/ 

No New Lynnwood Jail - https://www.nonewjail.com/ 

Disability Among Prison and Jail Inmates - https://bjs.ojp.gov/content/pub/pdf/dpji1112.pdf

Washington State Jail Standards Task Force - https://www.atg.wa.gov/task-forces#JailStandards 

Unchain Whatcom - https://unchainwhatcom.com/no-new-jail/ 

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Episode 3: Civil Commitment

Episode transcript here.

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

Joseph O’Sullivan - Western State Hospital loses $53 million in federal funding after failing inspection

Updates:

Eílis O’Neill - 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

Resources:

Disability Rights Washington - From Hospitals to Handcuffs: Criminalizing Patients in Crisis - 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/ 

Instituted for Development of Human Arts - https://www.idha-nyc.org/ 

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Episode 2: Forensic Commitment

Episode transcript here.

In this episode, we take on forensic commitment, the psychiatric commitment of those who are facing criminal charges but are legally considered not competent to stand trial  We unpack how the jail and state hospital systems are connected with each other through forensic commitment, and how there is a surplus of people in the jails who are awaiting space for beds to open up in the state hospital system. This has created pressure for an expansion of forensic commitment space in the state hospital system, something that abolitionists and reformers have addressed.  We speak with Chris Carney (Carney & Gillespie) again, as well as abolitionist, street medic and nurse SYP, and prison abolition activist Scout Smedley.  Music by Scout Smedley and editing by Nest Audio Co.

Relevant news articles:

Joseph O’Sullivan - $70.9B WA budget proposal boosts funding for behavioral health

Joseph O’Sullivan - Washington state buys shuttered psychiatric hospital in Tukwila

Laurel Demkovich and Jerry Cornfield - New Washington budget boosts state spending by $2B

Other resources - 

No New Washington Prisons - https://www.nonewwaprisons.com/

An Abolitionist Guide to Western State Hospital 

No New Washington Prisons Zine Library

Carney & Gillespie PLLP on Trueblood vs. Washington State Department of Social and Health Services

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Episode 1: Entanglements

Show transcript here.

In episode one, we introduce this series’ central questions: what do the mental health system and the criminal legal system have to do with one another? More to the point, how is improving care in Washington contributing to the expansion of jails, prisons and other spaces of confinement? We frame the whole series by outlining ways that care and incarceration are entangled with one another in Washington State. This episode features the voices of Chris Carney (Carney Gillespie) as well as Shaun Glaze (Black Brilliance Research) and LeTania Severe (Black Brilliance Research and Seattle Solidarity Budget).  Music by Scout Smedley and editing by Nest Audio Co.

Sources referenced in the show:

Erica C. Barnett, Seattle Court Agrees to exclude City Attorney’s List of High Utilizers from Community Court

Seattle City Attorney’s High Utilizers Initiative

King County Involuntary Treatment Act: Reentry and Court Outcomes:

Black Brilliance Research Report. 

Seattle Police Department Crisis Contact Data 

We also reference Trueblood Data provided by Chris Carney, not available on the internet

Resources:

Black Brilliance Research Project  - https://blackbrillianceresearch.com/
One Millions Experiments - https://millionexperiments.com/

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