Penn Today story on mass incarceration and its impact on communities and people of color

I spent my Wednesday at the University of Pennsylvania’s Nursing School covering a conference on the impact of mass incarceration on people and communities of color. Here’s the story.

Or, if you just want the lede:

Kempis “Ghani” Songster spent 30 years in prison. At Penn’s School of Nursing Wednesday morning, he described the physical and mental toll he’d seen caused by mass incarceration: prisoners who lost their spark and seemingly fell into trances commonly called “the autistic thing;” more than 600 of his fellow inmates—of all ages—dead from cancer in a 25-year-period, perhaps tied to toxic drinking water; people with diabetes who, already denied healthy food, stuffed themselves with sugar as they gave up hope.

Songster, 45, had a circulation problem for years—but it was never properly looked at until his release, he said.

“When I went to my first medical appointment at Rising Sun Medical Center, I’d never been treated that way before, treated like a human being, treated by somebody who really took pride in their work and wanted to see what was wrong with me,” said Songster, who was released in December 2017, in light of a Supreme Court ruling declaring it unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to life. “That wasn’t someone just trying to tell me, ‘You look OK’ and just give me a Motrin.”

Songster was one of the keynote speakers of a day-long workshop focused on the effects of incarceration on the health and well-being of people and communities of color