Prison Peer Education

Since 2000, CHT Austin has collaborated with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, AIDS Foundation Houston and DHHS Office on Women's Health to develop peer education programs.

Although research has shown that peer education is one of the most powerful ways to impact risk-taking behavior, only 13% (2002 data) of state and federal correctional facilities in the US use a peer education approach. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is increasingly using peer education programs to promote self-responsibility in health care and access, as well as to reduce sexual assault.

Peer education programs developed to date:

• Wall Talk addresses infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, TB and staph infection.
• Woman to Woman was developed in response to the female peer educators' requests for help in teaching other inmates about basic health care. Click here to order.
• Safe Prisons provides a three-hour training to prevent sexual assault, using inmates' own language and scenarios.

CHT has also collaborated with AIDS Foundation Houston and the National Minority AIDS Council to develop training for community based organizations (CBOs) who wish to work with correctional facilities and populations. These are:

• HIV, Stigma and Corrections helps CBO staff to discuss the relationships between racism, sexism, power and stigma; identify the origins of stigma; analyze common myths and beliefs about people with a history of incarceration; and discuss and design different types of interventions to reduce HIV-related stigma.
• The Culture of Corrections provides critical information for CBO staff about working in a correctional setting, including common rules, terminology, developing productive working relationships with prison staff.

New!Our two newest peer education curricula focus on pregnancy and parenting. Generous funding from the Frees and Simmons Foundations, both in Houston, Texas, will ensure that female inmates of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) have an opportunity to explore and improve their parenting skills. A separate training will be provided by peers to pregnant inmates, both in the general population, and participants of the Baby and Mother Bonding Initiative - BAMBI. Both programs were completed under our sister company, CHT Resource Group, http://www.chtresourcegroup.org.

Family Foundations

This 3-5 hour training module on parenting skills can be incorporated into the peer education classes currently ongoing at TDCJ, accompanied by a participant workbook "planner" for each student. The training covers:

• Childhood development
• Family systems
• Effective communication skills
• Re-unification with children (to be taught as a pre-release class)

Baby Basics

This 8-hour series of classes will provide much-needed education and support to women who are going through the challenging experience of pregnancy while incarcerated. Participants learn:

• Stages of pregnancy and fetal development
• The importance of prenatal care
• Healthy behaviors during and after pregnancy
• Labor and delivery - what to expect
• Taking care of baby during the first weeks of life

Contact Sandy Rice for more information - srice@jba-cht.com