From Words to Weapons Episode 11 features Part 2 of a panel discussion about harm reduction in the context of interactions with law enforcement and solutions that could better promote community well-being and help mitigate mistrust. Obscured partnered with the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium and the Pennsylvania Action Coalition to hold the discussion with support from the Independence Public Media Foundation. On this episode, Part 2, we’re going to hear a conversation moderated by Obscured’s Stephanie Marudas and Namaijah Faison of the Pennsylvania Action Coalition and National Nurse-Led Care Consortium. As we heard on the previous episode, the three panelists are: Talitha Smith, Chad Bruckner and Laurie Corbin. Talitha Smith is a nurse navigator with RIvER, which stands for Rethinking Incarceration and Empowering Recovery. It’s a clinic within the Allegheny Health Network’s Center for Inclusion Health — the same clinic we heard about in episode 8 of our series with Talitha’s colleague Divya Venkat. In addition to her work at the RIvER clinic, Talitha is an adjunct professor at Carlow University and works as a local travel nurse. Chad Bruckner is a retired police detective and spent his career in policing in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He now heads a…Read More

From Words to Weapons Episode 10 features Part 1 of a panel discussion about harm reduction in the context of interactions with law enforcement and solutions that could better promote community well-being and help mitigate mistrust. Obscured partnered with the National Nurse-Led Care Consortium and the Pennsylvania Action Coalition to hold the discussion with support from the Independence Public Media Foundation. On this episode, Part 1, we’re going to hear presentations from each of the panelists. And then on Part 2, we’ll hear a moderated discussion among the panelists. The first presentation we’ll hear is from Talitha Smith. Talitha is a nurse navigator with RIvER, which stands for Rethinking Incarceration and Empowering Recovery. It’s a clinic within the Allegheny Health Network’s Center for Inclusion Health — the same clinic we heard about in episode 8 of our series with Talitha’s colleague Divya Venkat. In addition to her work at the RIvER clinic, Talitha is an adjunct professor at Carlow University and works as a local travel nurse. The second presentation is from Chad Bruckner. Chad is a retired police detective and spent his career in policing in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He now heads a private investigation firm and is a…Read More

From Words to Weapons Episode 9 focuses on the parole system and mass incarceration in the United States. Emily Previti and Stephanie Marudas talk with Chicago-based journalist Ben Austen. He’s written a new book, Correction: Parole, Prison and the Possibility of Change. Ben also is the author of High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Public Housing and the co-host of a podcast called Some of My Best Friends Are. Links of Interest:https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250758811/correctionhttps://www.pushkin.fm/hosts/ben-austen…Read More

From Words to Weapons Episode 8 delves into health care for returning citizens with Dr. Divya Venkat about how law enforcement trauma shows up in her patients and implementing a harm reduction care model. Divya is a physician and works for the Allegheny Health Network’s Center for Inclusion Health. Divya has treated both incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals and shares her perspective with us. She’s the co-founder and co-director of RIvER, a health care delivery program in Pittsburgh for people after being incarcerated. As part of our conversation, Divya talks about how she and her colleagues navigate patient mistrust in institutions across the board, including the medical field. Links of Interest:  https://nihcm.org/assets/articles/NIHCM-CIH-RIvER-Venkat.pdf https://www.ahn.org/services/medicine/center-for-inclusion-health…Read More

From Words to Weapons Episode 7 focuses on Maija Anderson’s story and her push to develop a treatment protocol for people after a law enforcement encounter. Maija has been working on developing a protocol for more than 20 years, with mixed success and support. Through Maija’s story and talking to other researchers and reformers for this episode, Emily Previti reports and shows the obstacles – and potential path forward – to establishing support for law enforcement trauma survivors comparable to what’s long been provided for survivors of other forms of trauma. Links of interest:    Have Nurses Turned a Blind Eye? (Anderson, Maija and Bailey, Mary; American Journal of Nursing)   Latent Class Profiles of Police Violence Exposure in 4 US Cities and Their Associations with Anticipation of Police Violence and Mental Health Outcomes (Leslie Salas-Hernández, et. Al; Journal of Urban Health)  Developing a Model of Forensic Care To Victims of Police Violence (Anderson, Maija and Callari-Robinson, Jacqueline; NNVAWI Conference)  Police in the ED Medical Provider Toolkit (Working Group on Policing and Patient Rights, Georgetown University Health-Justice Alliance) …Read More

From Words to Weapons Episode 6 focuses on how county jails treat people with mental health conditions. Emily Previti and Stephanie Marudas talk with Pennsylvania-based journalist Brett Sholtis, who investigated this issue in Pennsylvania, about what that looks like and obstacles he’s faced during his reporting. Brett investigated interactions between corrections officers and inmates with mental health conditions; specifically, how tasers, restraints and other types of force are utilized within county jails. The conversation also delves into how the lack of transparency can prevent accountability and public understanding of these issues. Links of interest: https://www.witf.org/news/mental-health-behind-bars/…Read More

On Episode 5 of the From Words to Weapons series, Hector Rivera shares his experiences of surviving police brutality and seeking accountability. His experiences point to the lack of an effective, uniform structure for police accountability in the United States. Instead, solutions – and outcomes – vary from city to city. And experts on law enforcement oversight say it almost has to be that way. In context of Hector’s story, Emily Previti breaks down what police oversight currently looks like in Philadelphia where she lives. Just a heads-up: on this episode, we’re really getting into the weeds about this topic that’s so often obscured. Links of interest: https://www.phila.gov/2023-09-13-cpocs-release-of-the-pbi-report-part-2/  https://ccrjustice.org/home/what-we-do/our-cases/daniels-et-al-v-city-new-york https://www.aclupa.org/en/cases/bailey-et-al-v-city-philadelphia-et-al…Read More

From Words to Weapons Episode 4 delves into community trauma interventions with Arturo Zinny. The conversation explores what takeaways there might be for people working to address law enforcement trauma and navigating relationships among institutions and communities with lived experience. There’s a small network of researchers and policy makers, around the United States, who are thinking about how to support people who’ve experienced traumatic encounters with law enforcement. To better understand what that might entail, Emily Previti and Stephanie Marudas have been talking to public health practitioners who’ve done adjacent work, hoping to learn about any models that might be analogous and provide more context about these sorts of interventions. On this episode, Emily and Stephanie speak with Philadelphia-based public health researcher Arturo Zinny. Arturo is Executive Director of Drexel University’s Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice where he previously served as director of Healing Hurt People, which helps individuals cope with community violence. He’s also a Stoneleigh Foundation fellow and is researching how evidence-based, trauma-informed practices affect the mental health of youth survivors of violence. Links of interest:  https://drexel.edu/dornsife/academics/faculty/Arturo-Zinny/#:~:text=Bio,Dornsife%20School%20of%20Public%20Health https://drexel.edu/cnsj/#:~:text=The%20Center%20for%20Nonviolence%20and,to%20sustaining%20careers%2C%20and%20through https://drexel.edu/cnsj/healing-hurt-people/overview/…Read More

From Words to Weapons Episode 3 focuses on Chester Hollman III, who spent nearly three decades in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, and the broader political fight over state-administered compensation for people who’ve been wrongfully convicted. A few years ago, Chester was the subject of a Netflix documentary; this episode picks up where that story left off. We talk with Chester about how he’s managing his mental health after being exonerated and now helping others rebuild their lives after prison. Through Chester’s post-incarceration story, we also unpack efforts and obstacles to support exonerees legislatively (fruitless thus far in Pennsylvania, among just a dozen states without wrongful conviction compensation laws) and politically (the Pa. GOP’s quest to oust Philly’s progressive district attorney was peaking while Chester was engaging with us for this podcast). Links of interest:   The Exoneree Health and Life Experiences (ExHaLE) study: Trauma exposure and mental health among wrongly convicted individuals.   Race and Wrongful Convictions in the United States  Pennsylvania State House Bill 1470  Exonerated Justice ordinance and resolution before Philadelphia City Council  Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner impeachment:  • Commonwealth Court • State Supreme Court    The Prosecution: Wrong Place, Wrong Time (Netflix’s …Read More

From Words to Weapons Episode 2 focuses on barriers to law enforcement accountability with Joanna Schwartz. Law enforcement accountability in the United States is complex and challenging, especially when it comes to trying to sue the police. On this episode, Emily Previti and Stephanie Marudas turn to UCLA Law Professor Joanna Schwartz, a leading expert on police misconduct litigation in the United States and the author of the 2023 book Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable. Joanna discusses various barriers to law enforcement accountability based on her experience suing the police on behalf of clients and her extensive research. The conversation covers issues including qualified immunity, plausible claims and public access laws, as well as emerging laws, policies and alternative models for law enforcement accountability. Links of Interest mentioned in this episode: https://www.joannaschwartz.net/shielded-how-the-police-became-untouchablehttps://law.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/joanna-c-schwartz…Read More