Educational resources for the community.

Children of Incarcerated Parents: A Handbook for Researchers and Practitioners,

Published by The Urban Institute

Abstract

More than 1.7 million American children are separated from an imprisoned parent. Millions more have parents in jail. For these children, the risk of behavioral problems, attachment insecurity, poverty, cognitive delays, and other negative outcomes is elevated. But by how much?  How many are able to overcome these challenges? And what public policies give them the best chance of persevering?  The scholars contributing to Children of Incarcerated Parents: A Handbook for Researchers and Practitioners, published in 2010 by the Urban Institute Press, say it has taken decades to accumulate a body of scientific knowledge about these children, because most practitioners and researchers who gather this information work in isolation.

Cost Benefit Analysis and Crime Control, published in 2010 by Urban Institute Press, examines the flow of decisions that go into designing, conducting and applying cost-benefit analysis to crime control programs. The use of cost-benefit analysis for crime control is still a nascent tool, but a promising one worthy of further methodological development. This book presents the latest thinking on methods for undertaking cost-benefit analysis of criminal justice interventions.

As part of the Centerforce Peer Health Education Program, peer health educators worked with Centerforce staff to develop a 1-hour presentation to educate general prison populations about hepatitis.  The presentation is designed to be delivered by fellow peers who are incarcerated, who have been trained in general about hepatitis, peer health education, and cultural competency. The specific peer health educators delivering this presentation for Centerforce have been given advanced training specifically for the talk.  The presentation informs the audience about what hepatitis is, its effects on a person’s health, how is is transmitted, how to prevent it, and how to identify and reduce risk behaviors in incarcerated settings that are associated with hepatitis.  In the Centerforce Peer Health Education Program, this presentation is commonly delivered in reception areas for new arrivals and structured education program settings, as well as other venues as appropriate and available. Read more »

A tool developed by Centerforce’s Hepatitis Peer-Based Health Education Program.

This table compares disease transmission, prevention and treatment for Hepatitis A, B and C.  Designed by Centerforce peer health educators for individual and group outreach in prisons. Read more »

As part of the Centerforce Peer Health Education Program, peer health educators worked with Centerforce staff to develop a Hepardy! game that can be used to test participants’ knowledge of the facts about hepatitis A, B and C.  The game is designed to be integrated into larger presentations, and was originally developed as a part of the multi-day “Level I” Peer Health Training Curriculum used to train people who are incarcerated to become peer health educators.  This is an interactive tool loosely based on the popular television show, Jeopardy!  Participants must pick questions from among increasing levels of difficulty for increasing amounts of points, from a selection of categories. You can set up the game to be played by individuals or teams. Read more »

As part of the Centerforce Peer Health Education Program, peer health educators at San Quentin State Prison worked with Centerforce staff to develop a series of hepatitis educational videos designed for people who are incarcerated.  Each video includes a hepatitis prevention message that helps dispel common myths about hepatitis and addresses relevant methods of transmission of hepatitis in a prison setting.   The videos were created as public announcements for the closed-circuit television programming at San Quentin State Prison, and have been approved for viewing by the general public.

Read more »

As part of the Centerforce Peer Health Education Program, peer health educators and Centerforce staff developed a series of hepatitis educational posters designed for people who are incarcerated. Each poster includes a hepatitis prevention message that helps educate people about the prevalence and effects of hepatitis, dispel common myths about hepatitis or addresses relevant methods of transmission of hepatitis in a prison setting.

Read more »

As part of the Centerforce Peer Health Education Program, peer health educators worked with Centerforce staff to develop the Level II Hepatitis Peer Health Educator Training. This is a 5 day training designed to train individuals living with Hepatitis C within incarcerated settings to provide peer health education to others living inside with Hepatitis C. Read more »

As part of the Centerforce Peer Health Education Program, peer health educators worked with Centerforce staff to develop the Level I Hepatitis Peer Health Educator Training. This is a 4 day training designed to train individuals living within incarcerated settings to provide peer health education around Hepatitis. Read more »

For your enrichment and education
Centerforce offers a selection of outstanding media resources.

SHADOWS: CHILDREN, FAMILIES AND THE LEGACY OF INCARCERATION
A film by Tova: Artistic Project for Social Change

The powerful training film brings out of the shadows the voices and realities of children of incarcerated parents. Based on performances of presentation Holding up: A New Prison Legacy, the film follows the journey of the children, their caregivers and their incarcerated parents as they travel from the darkness of anger and pain into the light of healing and forgiveness. A must see for anyone working with incarcerated fathers, their children and their caregivers. This gem is brought to us by the National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated at the Family & Corrections Network.

Price: $30 plus $4.50 shipping costs

INSIDE/OUT: Real Stories of Women, Men and Life after Incarceration
A VHS/DVD for women and men facing the challenges after their partners are release from prison.

This 17 minute film is filled with insights into the lives of four women whose partners were incarcerated and five men who have served time. Inside/Out focuses on how many women face complex relationships issues with partners who are incarcerated and/or released. Particular attention is given to the health risks in prison and the need for honest communication regarding health when faced with future planning and decisions.

A discussion guide accompanies the DVD and VHS, giving tools for group discussion addressing the feelings, questions and concerns of participants.

Price: $30 plus $4.50 shipping costs

THE VOICES YOU RARELY HEAR
The Women of Central California’s Women’s Facility Write About Their Lives and Their Incarceration

Open to any page in this magnificent book and you will be in awe, struck by the heart and soul expressed by the poets and the storytellers who authored these pieces. Produced by Centerforce, our hope for this book is that it be shared with colleagues, friends and family. These courageous women tell their stories with passion and clarity, speaking for thousands of other incarcerated women with their hope that you will understand them and their lives.

Price: $10 plus $4.50 shipping costs

Hepatitis C Educational Videos for Incarcerated Settings

As part of the Centerforce Peer Health Education Program, peer health educators at San Quentin State Prison worked with Centerforce staff to develop a series of hepatitis educational videos designed for people who are incarcerated.  Each video includes a hepatitis prevention message that helps dispel common myths about hepatitis and addresses relevant methods of transmission of hepatitis in a prison setting.   The videos were created as public announcements for the closed-circuit television programming at San Quentin State Prison, and have been approved for viewing by the general public.

Price: Each video is free. There will be a charge $4.50 for shipping costs.

Or get all five in order for a $5.70 shipping cost here:

Hepatitis C Mythbusters Video 1: The Risk of Tattooing Inside (4 minutes)

In this video, the Peer Health Educator runs into a friend who is planning to get some extensive tattooing done by an incarcerated friend in the near future. The Peer Health Educator informs the friend that many aspects of the tattooing process can put him at risk for getting Hepatitis C and that the “jailhouse myths” of ways to clean the tattooing needle do not definitively protect him. The friend decides to find out more information before making a decision about his tattoo.

Hepatitis C Mythbusters Video 2: How is Hepatitis B Transmitted? (2 minutes)

In this video, a man who is seeing his doctor inside the prison asks how Hepatitis B is transmitted and the doctor provides the answer.

Hepatitis C Mythbusters Video 3: Can you get Hepatitis C from casual contact? (3 minutes)

In this video, two men (the Peer Health Educator and his friend) are in a discussion about how Hepatitis C is transmitted. The friend believes it can be transmitted from casual contact and the peer tries to convince him otherwise. The doctor is brought into the discussion and she clarifies that Hepatitis C is transmitted through blood to blood contact.

Hepatitis C Mythbusters Video 4: The Rumor Mill – How do people in prison get Hepatitis C? (5 minutes, 30 seconds)

In this video, two men (the Peer Health Educator and his friend) are discussing whether the friend may have contracted Hepatitis C from his recent tattoo that he received inside. The Peer Health Educator explains that he can only know by getting tested. This conversation is overheard by another man walking by who mishears the message. The message gets distorted through “the rumor mill” and then brought back to the Peer Health Educator for clarification. The main message of the video is to “always get the facts”.

Video 5: Hepatitis A, B, and C – the Basics (4o minutes)

This is a video of a class provided by a Peer Health Educator to other men who are incarcerated on the basics of the liver, Hepatitis A, B, and C as well as possible transmission risks for each in an incarcerated setting.