A New Narrative
A New Narrative is SCOOP’s publication for health students to submit their reflections and growing analysis. Through these essays, we learn to see the many intersections between the criminal legal system and health in our hospitals, communities, cities, and lives. Reducing carceral harm requires significant ideological work, the deconstructing of old and writing of New Narratives. Individualist narratives of harm, devoid of context, do not serve communities and patients well. What can we offer instead?
At SCOOP, we write New Narratives of health, safety, justice, healing, and repair. We write New Narratives on the role health workers must take in social change beyond social service provision.
We hope that you will join us in contributing New Narratives of your own. How might we build power, together, towards a new politics of care?
How To Submit
This publication is for any health student (MD, DO, PA, NP, MPH, etc.). Please submit any work not published elsewhere by contacting us and noting that it is a submission for A New Narrative.
What are you seeing in clinic and community that demands change? What policies and people are propping up a narrow definition of public safety? What are the health implications of your local carceral institutions? How has SCOOP’s curriculum changed your analysis around harm? What education, organizing, and action are you taking?
What New Narrative will you be a part of writing?
Not all submissions can be published. All that are published will be lightly edited in collaboration with you.
Essays usually range from 700 - 1,200 words. Please see previously published essays for examples of the variety of content we publish.
Healing Not Harm: Imagining Beyond Carceral Approaches to Care
By Ajetha Nadanasabesan
“Ultimately, research overwhelmingly shows that incarceration is not only an ineffective solution to the opioid crisis but is in fact contributing to overdose deaths”
Inadequate Prenatal Care and Adverse Environmental Health Exposures in U.S. Carceral Facilities
By Teresa Durham
“ Deficient prenatal care with inconsistent infectious disease screenings, as well as senseless economic barriers like co-payments for doctor’s visits and basic hygiene materials, further increase the possibility that diseases progress untreated.”
How the Microscopic Influences the Macroscopic: A Look into Infectious Disease in Prisons
By Vida Lugo and Alexus Shaw
“ In many ways, jails and prisons provide the perfect breeding ground for infectious diseases. Sanitation is at the forefront of the problem. The subpar standard of living in many facilities exists in the context of wider societal discrimination.”
How My Mom, a Former Prosecutor, Influenced My Views of the Criminal Legal System
By Elizabeth Beveridge
“ Angela Davis captures this best by saying ‘prisons do not disappear social problems, they disappear people.’ This is particularly important for two reasons: first, every person deserves dignity and second, because the current system has not shown to be effective at reducing harm. So, instead of responding with punishment, we should find ways to prevent the violence by addressing the deeper issues within our society.”
“I don’t know why I came here, it was clearly a mistake”: Carceral Trauma in the Trauma Bay
By Arielle Lawson
“A patient who was polite, friendly, and in need of medical attention, became understandably angry after continuous probing by law enforcement…The patient came looking for care, but was met with a carceral environment.”
Sentenced to Death: How the Lack of Naloxone Provision Behind Bars Leads to Preventable Death
By Cherise Thomas
“To be clear, the criminalization of drugs does nothing to decrease their use or availability. After more than one trillion dollars spent on the “war on drugs”, there is nothing to show for it save for much otherwise preventable harm.”
It Takes a Village – The Origins of Juvenile Incarceration
By Zizi Ohamadike
“Today, children who experience incarceration in the United States face deplorable living conditions, marked by violence, neglect, abuse, and exploitation…As healthcare providers, it is imperative that we critically analyze the origins and systemic drivers of juvenile incarceration in the United States. By doing so, we can develop and advocate for community-based solutions that protect the health and well-being of pediatric patients. By examining pivotal developments in the establishment of the modern juvenile carceral system, we see that despite claims of safeguarding children, it is primarily harmful.”