What Prison's Got to Do with It: Confronting HIV and Mass Imprisonment

Wednesday, December 10, 2008
6:30 - 8:30PM

LGBT Community Center
208 West 13th Street (btwn 7th/8th aves.), NYC
Free ~ Open to the public ~ Refreshments provided

Across the country, people who are formerly imprisoned, policy advocates, AIDS service providers, prison justice organizers, people with HIV and other community members are coming together to confront the intersection of HIV and mass imprisonment. Together, we can and must build a community-based movement to address the ways that imprisonment makes our communities vulnerable to HIV.

Project UNSHACKLE, CHAMPs new program, is guided by the work of veterans in this struggle. The forum will introduce the project and focus on the far-reaching effects of imprisonment within our communities. Our communities are harmed by imprisonment in so many ways, putting individuals, families, caregivers - the entire community - at increased risk for HIV. Access to prevention tools, like condoms, in prison is a critical to HIV prevention. But working to change U.S. drug policy so that less people are going into prison and people have the support they need when they're released is also HIV prevention justice.

Join us as we come together to fight to heal and restore our communities!

Speakers Include:
John Bell - Philadelphia Fight
Alan Perez - Gay Men's Health Crisis, Action Center
Waheedah Shabazz-El - CHAMP
Stacey Thompson - Women in Prison Project, Correctional Association of New York

Moderator:
Laura McTighe - Project UNSHACKLE Coordinating Consultant