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.

In-Care-Ceration was written and produced by Leah Montange and Meredith Ruff.

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!

In-Care-Ceration was written and produced by Leah Montange and Meredith Ruff.

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.

In-Care-Ceration was written and produced by Leah Montange and Meredith Ruff.

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.

In-Care-Ceration was written and produced by Leah Montange and Meredith Ruff.

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.

In-Care-Ceration was written and produced by Leah Montange and Meredith Ruff.

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.

In-Care-Ceration was written and produced by Leah Montange and Meredith Ruff.

In-care-ceration is a documentary podcast about how Washington's so-called mental health system is entangled with the carceral system. How do people in need of mental health care end up losing their freedom, whether in a hospital, jail, or prison? How do these institutions care for people? Do they care for people at all? Are community calls for a more caring system having their intended impact?

We especially tune in to how improving care is a guise for expanding confinement and coercion. The podcast episodes feature voices from advocates and people who have experience in the jail, prison or mental health systems. We hope that this podcast can support future campaigns to stop carceral expansion.

About the Producers / Co-Hosts

Leah Montange is a human geographer who words toward prison and immigration detention abolition in the PNW. She teaches, writes, and creates media (like this podcast).

Meredith Ruff is an attorney turned bureaucrat (oh no!). She has been organizing with people in prison since 2017.