Black people are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of whites. But did you know that nearly 75 percent of the people in local jails are there for nonviolent offenses? The rate of mental illness inside jails is four to six times higher than on the outside. Meaning - our community is being locked away in cages instead of receiving the appropriate mental health supports that are needed.

We know all too well now that mass incarceration is a massive social problem. It has been analyzed through a variety of lenses by experts and social justice warriors from various disciplines. As a result, public consciousness has been awakened and raised about mass incarceration’s economical wastes and burdens on society, its assaults on education, its perpetuation of America’s age-old racial inequities, and even its connection to slavery. An ever-increasing number of us have been personally impacted by mass incarceration as family members and loved ones of people in prison. Maybe we’ve even experienced its effects from behind its walls. Still, the destructiveness of mass incarceration has other dimensions to it that we have only begun to look into.

On July 22, 2019, join us as we delve into mass incarceration at the intersection of environmental justice and public health. We will join Kempis “Ghani” Songster in an exploration of the impacts of jails and prisons on the health and well-being of individuals and communities, with a focus on an aspect of mass incarceration that has not been commonly discussed — toxicity. We will take a look at how the destructive effects of prisons extend well beyond the people who are incarcerated. It seeps into the mental health and wellness of the communities that they were taken from and will return to, as well as in the physical environment prisons are built in. It will become clearer for us that mass incarceration is more than a social problem. It is a national health crisis that we must come together to cure with what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called “the fierce urgency of now.”

Here's something you may not have known: Hundreds of U.S. prisons and ICE detention centers are built on toxic sites, and people inside are getting sick! A detailed report shows that 2,410 federal and state prisons in the U.S. stand within three miles of an area of land that, according to the EPA, is so contaminated it is dangerous to the public health — with 134 being within one mile of such a site. Pennsylvania is included on this list.

Join us each week for a​n interactive discussion about Mental Health ​and Wellness within the Black community.

Every week we will explore a different topic that addresses: the ​mental and physical impact of trauma, transforming the stigma around mental health, available support resources, and how we can heal from personal, racial and community traumas.

If there is a specific topic related to Black Mental Health and Wellness that you would like to hear discussed, send us your idea. If you have an area of expertise that you would like to share with the community, contact us. If you have a related organization or service that you provide, let's talk. We’d love to hear from you!

**Be advised that subject matter may not be appropriate for young children. Light refreshment will be served. There is free parking at the site.**

Kempis “Ghani” Songster was imprisoned in 1987 for murder. Despite the fact that he was only 15, he was certified as an adult, convicted of first-degree murder, and received a mandatory life sentence without parole. He became what is called a juvenile lifer. While in prison, Kempis developed and facilitated prison programs such as Cultural Awareness and Self-Enhancement (CASE) and From Trauma to Triumph, and also co-designed and co-facilitated the Fathers And Children Together (FACT) program (Fathers and Children Together (F.A.C.T.) – The Reentry Project. He has co-founded outside nonprofits such as The Redemption Project (TheRedemptionProject.org) and Ubuntu Philadelphia (UbuntuPhilly.org) (https://vimeo.com/286002778); and is a founding member of Right To Redemption (https://right2redemption.com/), which helped launch Philadelphia’s Coalition to Abolish Death By Incarceration (CADBI) (https://decarceratepa.info/CADBI). After 30 years of incarceration, Kempis was released from prison, at the age of 45. Since his release, he has joined the staff at the Amistad Law Project (https://amistadlaw.org/), where he continues to work for the release of others, as well as to end the sentencing of human beings to life without parole/death by incarceration (https://generocity.org/philly/2018/05/18/amistad-law-project-criminal-justice-public-interest-law-west-philadelphia/). He is also a member of Ecosocialist Horizons (www.ecosocialisthorizons.com), where he has joined the fight for a more livable planet.