Beyond Do No Harm Storytelling Media Project
Stories from Health Care Workers Interrupting Criminalization
As we fight for structural change, we want to highlight the actions individual health care workers are already taking to interrupt criminalization in the context of care, in the hopes of inspiring others to do the same.
Through our storytelling media project, and with the help of storytellers and movement artists, we are gathering and amplifying these stories in creative ways that both increase awareness of the harmful impacts of criminalization within the medical system and invite people to take action at multiple levels.
We hope these examples of health care workers and collectives resisting carceral and criminalizing approaches to care provision inspire you to take action to interrupt criminalization!
At the Beyond Do No Harm Network, we know health care workers are resisting criminalization of people seeking care every day.
Sound designer and audio mixer:
Joe Namy
Audio recordist, editor, and consulting producer:
ill Weaver for Emergence Media
Do you have a story to share that we can collaborate with you to bring to life through animation, a video, short form audio story, zine, or any other kind of media? Your story can be anonymous if you prefer!
2025 Stories
On the Consequences of Policing Patient Behavior in the Hospital
Storyteller: Community Health Center Physician, MassachusettsA physician at a community health center challenges the policing of his patients by offering a harm reduction-based approach to care.
When Healing Becomes Resistance: Interrupting HIV Criminalization
Storytellers: Lashanda Salinas, Tennessee Advocate - Health Not Prisons / Jada Hicks, Senior PJP Attorney - The Center for HIV Law and Policy An advocate and an attorney share an intimate story about the power of community and policy, and the role of health care providers in the movement to end HIV criminalization.
Fighting Housing Injustice and Detention Through Medical Advocacy
A primary care physician in New York shares a strategy she uses to advocate for patient care while organizing for housing equity and migrant justice.
Storyteller: Primary Care Physician, New York Public Hospital Restorative Justice as an Alternative to Firing a Patient
A physician in Massachusetts prevents a patient from being dismissed from his practice by implementing a restorative justice process.
Storyteller: Community Health Center Physician, Massachusetts
Is it a Rule or is it a Law?
A resident physician in Florida discusses the importance of pushing back against cruel rules and policies in hospitals that impact care for incarcerated patients.
Storyteller: Resident Physician, Florida 
A Question is an Interruption
Storyteller: 3rd Year Medical Student, CaliforniaA medical student in California prevents security from being called on a patient's family member, emphasizing the importance of speaking up and asking questions.
Listening, Resisting, Healing: HRNA’s Fight Against Re-criminalization in B.C.
Storyteller: Corey Ranger, Registered Nurse, President - Harm Reduction Nurses AssociationA harm reduction nurse in Canada leads his community in a fight against Bill 34, which would re-criminalize public drug use
The Right to Dignity: Securing Compassionate Release for Incarcerated People
Storyteller: Internal Medicine Physician, GeorgiaA physician in Georgia utilizes compassionate release as a strategy to advance care for in-custody patients
Reclaiming the Narrative: Decriminalizing Pregnancy Through Policy and Advocacy
Storyteller: Erika A. Christensen, Later Abortion Patient Advocate, Co-Founder Patient ForwardA patient advocate who was central to passing the Reproductive Health Act (RHA) discusses the limits of legislative interventions in securing access to abortion care, and the importance of challenging criminalization at any stage of pregnancy.
2023-2024 Stories
Anonymous
Rural EMT Worker
A rural EMT worker handles a rapidly escalating situation between a patient and medics, centering patient care and cultural competency.
Transcript here.
About the artist: Kruttika Susarla is an illustrator and cartoonist from Andhra Pradesh, India. Her practice ranges from making comics about dogs, crows, and leeches to side hustling in the gig economy to making picture books and designing books and toolkits for community-based organisations and advocacy groups.
Dr. Jamila Perritt
Medical Doctor
A medical doctor fights for an incarcerated patient to get an abortion, through multiple stages of approval and bureaucracy.
Transcript here.
About the artist: San Pham (she/her/hers) is a writer, artist, and teacher from Ann Arbor, MI. She received her B.A. from the University of Michigan and received her M.F.A. at Emerson College in Boston, where she now resides. She has received multiple Hopwood Awards, an Emerson Graduate Award, and was a finalist for The Pinch Page Prize. She has writing publications in The Pinch, Isele Magazine, and the Crab Creek Review, as well as upcoming art publications in Hayden’s Ferry Review and GRLSQUASH. She is currently working on a novel in progress about ghosts that haunt a family affected by the trauma of the Vietnam War. She loves the sun.
Nurse Midwife
Ana Delgado, CNM, MS
A nurse midwife helps a patient navigate family court and Child Protective Services so the patient can keep her child.
Transcript here.
About the artist: rommy torrico is a queer, trans, formerly undocumented chilean migrant artist. They have been creating images of liberation for over a decade and really love the work they do.
Medical Student
Norman Archer
A medical student discusses the heavy police presence at his teaching hospital, and how to handle escalated situations without cops.
Transcript here.
About the artist: Hoai An Pham (she/her/hers) is an organizer from Ann Arbor, MI, where she was born and raised as a first generation Vietnamese American. As a disabled abolitionist, she has worked in movements like Free Ashley Now and Tashiena’s Freedom Team—around immigration, labor, climate, prisons, and racial justice, with the goal of building long-term, welcoming community. Currently, she is based in Boston, where she is studying public health.
Medical Doctor & Transgender Patient
Dr. Laura & Sean
A medical doctor talks with her transgender patient about navigating the medical system, and what medical providers can do to support transgender people.
Transcript here.
About the artist: Amir Khadar (They/Them) is a Sierra Leonean-American visual artist, designer, and educator originally from Minneapolis. Their artwork is intentionally positioned in social movement spaces, where it is central in creating visual language for liberatory initiatives and agendas around racial, gender, and climate justice. Amir's illustrations and movement artwork are grounded through art's ability to imagine alternate worlds and make liberation tangible. They have collaborated extensively with Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Parenting for liberation, Wakanda Dream Lab, Forward Together, and the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice on projects that fulfill this vision.