Health Not Prisons Dispatch: June 2021

The Health Not Prisons Collective (“HNP”, or “the Collective”) is an intersectional national initiative launched in 2020 by Counter Narrative Project (CNP), Positive Women’s Network – USA (PWN), Sero Project,Transgender Law Center (TLC), and theU.S. Caucus of People Living with HIV (the HIV Caucus) — longtime collaborators led by and accountable to communities most affected by HIV criminalization in the United States.

HNP fosters and sustains a robust, intersectional grassroots HIV decriminalization response that centers and elevates leadership by impacted communities: Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), people living with HIV, people involved in the sex trade, immigrants, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and no- and low-income people.

The Health Not Prisons Dispatch is a monthly bulletin highlighting recent developments relevant to criminalization and policing of people living with HIV in the United States, along with upcoming events, relevant resources, and opportunities to get involved. For more information about the coalition email Tyler Barbarin at [email protected].

Learn about the Health Not Prisons principles here


National Updates

June 5, 2021, marks the 40th anniversary of the first officially diagnosed cases of HIV in the United States. While the scientific landscape of HIV treatment and prevention has changed and advanced with the passing of time, people living with HIV continue to face persistent struggles for basic human rights, including the threat of criminalization. HIV criminalization continues to sustain and intensify the epidemic. Laws are not neutrally enforced and the criminalization of HIV continues to negatively impact individuals and communities.

Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA-13) has joined the call for fairness, respect and freedom from criminalization and surveillance for people living with HIV by bringing and sustaining federal attention on the carceral response to public health. Representative Lee re-introduced the Repeal Existing Policies that Encourage and Allow Legal HIV Discrimination (REPEAL) Act in February.

The REPEAL Act calls for the federal government to invest time and resources into understanding the root of HIV criminalization and how these laws exacerbate stigma and lead to other negative life outcomes for people living with HIV. The bill emphasizes the importance of bringing the federal, state, and local understanding of HIV into alignment with current science and eliminating punishment for acts that pose little or no threat of transmission.

Most encouraging about this bill is its direct mention of the need to include the leadership of people living with HIV in understanding the true impact of criminalization. People living with HIV, particularly those who have experienced criminalization are named as key participants in, “a national review of Federal and State laws, policies, regulations, and judicial precedents and decisions regarding criminal and related civil commitment cases involving people living with HIV/AIDS.”

HIV movement leaders have been advocating and fighting for decades to bring an end to laws that only serve to further stigmatize HIV status, and it is time for this message to be upheld in federal policy and practice. Only through the subject matter expertise and lived experience of people living with HIV will we bring an end to the epidemic and its intersecting oppressions.

This bill is the first important step towards a federal response to HIV that gets at the roots of the disparate and long lasting effects of the epidemic. We hope to see more legislation follow that centers the voices of people living with HIV and in particular those who have experienced criminalization of their status.

Federal resources, such as the AIDSVu overview of national HIV criminalization, can strengthen the federal response. The online HIV criminalization resources include infographics, local data profiles, and interactive maps that illustrate the many negative impacts of HIV criminalization on life and health outcomes. They bring data from within local contexts and situate it on the national landscape, highlighting the need for a united federal response to end criminalization. The Deeper Look: HIV Criminalization page specifically looks at the strong correlation between the over policing and criminalization of vulnerable populations and interaction with the justice system.

Decriminalization Efforts at the State Level

California

HNP partner Positive Women’s Network – USA, along with the Decrim Sex Work California Coaltion, has continued to support the movement of Senate Bill 357 (SB 357) through the California legislature. If passed, SB 357 will decriminalize loitering with the intent to commit prostitution. It successfully passed the full state senate with an overwhelming margin on June 1. Its next stop is the California Assembly Public Safety Committee.

Illinois

HNP partner the Sero Project is a proud member of the HIV Illinois Action Alliance, the coalition championing House Bill 1063 (HB 1063) this legislative session. HB 1063 has passed the Illinois Senate with a vote of 37-17 and now heads to the governor’s desk; Governor Pritzker is expected to sign it. HB 1063 will repeal the criminal transmission statute in Illinois. With the governor’s signature, Illinois will become the second state to fully repeal an HIV criminalization law.

Florida

HNP partners PWN and the Sero Project have been supporting the leadership and vision of the Florida HIV Justice Coalition this legislative session. Unfortunately, we were not able to successfully move HIV modernization legislation through the Florida legislature this year. House Bill 1465 (HB 1465) and Senate Bill 1618 (SB 1618) both died in committee. We look forward to opportunities to support HIV modernization in Florida next session with the hope that legislation introduced will also be able to support local advocates’ efforts to decriminalize sex work.

Missouri

We are excited to announce that SB 53 has been signed into law! The Missouri HIV Justice Coalition, along with Sero and PWN, to have supported advocates on the ground in passing this legislation to modernize HIV criminalization law in Missouri and bring it into alignment with current science.

Nevada

HNP partner the Sero Project worked with local advocates to pass SB 257 through the Nevada State Legislature this session. SB 257, which passed in May and is awaiting the governor’s signature, will revise statutes on communicable diseases, repeal out-of-date code regarding HIV, and effectively modernize the state’s HIV criminalization laws.

Upcoming Events, Opportunities & Resources

  1. HIV is Not A Crime IV (HINAC) National Training Academy is hosted by HNP partner the Sero Project along with other HNP partners PWN, Thrive SS, Transgender Law Center, and the U.S. People Living with HIV Caucus. HINAC will be held virtually next week, June 7-10. Don’t miss this flagship event for the HIV decriminalization movement! You can register for HINAC here.

  2. Positive Women’s Network-USA is hiring! PWN is hiring for our Organizing Director and Operations Manager positions. Read more about the PWN job opportunities here.

  3. PWN and the U.S. People Living with HIV Caucus hosted an virtual event to address what the Biden-Harris Administration has done in its first 100 days in office and what they can do to strengthen the federal response on HIV. Watch Nothing About Us Without Us: Networks of People Living with HIV and the Federal Response here.

  4. Empower Missouri is now accepting applications for the Positive Power Fellowship, Missouri’s first leadership development cohort for PLHIV. Applications are due by June 11th, 2021. Submit an application here.

  5. Towards Abolition is a virtual learning and action guide, recently developed by public health practitioners, students, and educators, that draws connections between public health and the need for abolition. Access the entire resource here.

The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF) has launched a new website to support their HIV Is Not A Crime efforts. It features national awareness activities, modernization efforts, and highlights of their Council of Justice Leaders – a group of individuals who have been unjustly criminalized for their HIV status. Read more here.


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