One goal of the NHCN is to be a hub for sharing information and resources for professionals and incarcerated patients. Our website, www.hcvinprison.org, hosts a variety of useful information including information on HCV treatment in prisons and jails, recent academic research and news, resources for educators, advocates, and prisoners, and helpful links. In the future, we plan to update our state-by-state treatment information, create insightful FAQs, and continue build a library of resources and information.

We need your help to build this resource! Email rich@hepeducation.org with news, program models, resources or materials, or feedback on our web content.

Centerforce is a California-based non-profit organization whose mission is to support, educate, and advocate for individuals, families, and communities impacted by incarceration.  A national leader on hepatitis C education in corrections, Centerforce’s PHEP program has been conducting peer based health education inside San Quentin State Prison for more than 20 years. Most recently Centerforce, in collaboration with their peer health educators, has developed educational materials, presentations, trainings, videos and support group guides around peer-based health education for hepatitis C prevention in prisons.  PHEP currently trains prisoners at three California penal institutions – San Quentin, Valley State Prison, and Central California Women’s Facility – to be peer educators for hepatitis C.  Peer educators coordinate workshops, provide one-on-one support, and make presentations in various prison departments on hepatitis C.

“Peer health education is crucial to Hepatitis C prevention within incarcerated settings,” says Dr. Julie Lifshay, Centerforce’s Health and Special Projects Manager who presented on peer education in prisons at our NHCN meeting this past March.

Learn more about Centerforce by visiting their website www.centerforce.org, and view their educational materials for hepatitis in prisons by clicking here. 

Most of us are aware of how rapidly treatments for hepatitis C will be changing in the next few years.  Given the disporportionate number of prisoners with HCV and the challenges of providing healthcare in prisons and jails, changes to the standard of care for HCV are sure to affect people who are incarcerated as well as their healthcare providers.  

A new article published in Topics in Antiviral Medicine written by leaders in the field discusses the impact of these changes in HCV treatment on the incarcerated.  Click here to view the article, "Impact of New Therapeutics for Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Incarcerated Populations" and view other news and research on HCV in corrections by visiting the news and research section of our site.  If you'd like to contribute an article, email us.

Health in Prisons is a one-week course offered by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in collaboration with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The course provides public health, medical and nursing professionals with the tools needed to critically analyze and address the myriad health and human rights issues facing populations in detention or incarceration.

The course will be held at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. Instruction will take place from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday, June 24-28, 2013.

Learn more.

NHCN Member Center for Health Justice Executive Director Cajetan Luna and Rich Feffer from the Hepatitis Education Project were recently quoted in A&U Magazine in an article called "Invisible Disease: Organizations Shine a Light on HCV in Jails and Prisons."

Read the article.

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