action figures sold separately

Understanding Prison Health Care: Fostering Competence and Compassion in Treating Prisoners

– organized by Melissa Minor, MD (funded by the Arts and Humanities Medical Scholars Program at Stanford School of Medicine)

This educational web site uses narratives and artistic works to foster competence, compassion and activism in medically treating prisoner patients, a patient population that has traditionally been overlooked in medical education and marginalized in clinical practice. It is meant to inform, educate and challenge personal biases toward caring for prisoner patients. Without an understanding of prison health care issues, it is difficult to provide competent and compassionate care to prisoners, or any other culturally disenfranchised population.

Each page is devoted to a particular topic on prison health care. On each page is a collection of artwork done by prison artists or community activist artists (with links to the source when available). Additionally, at the bottom of each page you can hear the opinions of various experts in prison health care and prison rights (including physicians, advocates, community educators, lawyers and prisoners themselves).

Excerpts from the “Advocacy” and “Needed Changes” sections:

“Health care workers have a responsibility to advocate for the health and well being of their patients. Advocacy may take many forms, including educating a patient about diseases and disease prevention, speaking up for a patient when they may be unable to do so and lessening barriers to accessing health care. The role of advocacy is even more essential and influential when advocating for the health care rights of prisoners. As prisoners are in a relatively powerless position during incarceration, they often do not have the liberty of voicing their opinions for fear of retribution. They also near lack any ability to mobilize change in the prison system. Consequently, health advocacy is often in the hands of the health care professionals who treat prisoner patients.”

“Numerous changes in prison policy, programs and procedures are necessary if health care in prisons is to improve. Many of these changes must occur within the prison institution to strengthen prisoner access to health care (urgent care, preventive care, chronic care, specialty care) and health education materials. Other institutional changes must address the issues of assuring patient confidentiality, facilitating prisoners in taking partnership in their health care decisions and providing continuity of follow-up care, especially when an outside physicians is consulted.”

above artwork by Eric Drooker