Bridges Inside: Prison and Health (November)

Texts

The Prisoner’s Herbal (2020) by Nicole Rose

Just for a moment

I lose myself

And all that I am is the plant in my hand

My heart is engaged

In a language older than words

-       ‘Outlaw’ by Nicole Rose

Nicole Rose, a formerly incarcerated herbalist and anarchist, writes in The Prisoner’s Herbal that, “[plants] become familiar friends and help counter the loneliness of imprisonment.” For Rose, herbalism was not just a way of addressing health problems but also a mode of resistance within the prison environment. In the final session of Bridges Inside for this year, we will be reading and discussing The Prisoner’s Herbal. We will begin with a conversation on the vision of health that Rose creates within and with her book. Together, we’ll think through how alternative conceptions of health, healing, and medicine can cultivate forms of life that resist carceral logics. We will then turn to our local context to imagine how projects like The Prisoner’s Herbal can transform experiences of imprisonment. We hope that you’ll join us in imagining healing justice for people affected by incarceration.

All readings are available on our website under the ‘Resources’ tab.