700 7th St E
Saint Paul
Minnesota 55106
**Pre-Conference Film Screening: Attend a free screening and discussion of the documentary film “The Released: The Cyclical Incarceration of Ex-Cons with Mental Illnesses,” Thursday, April 16 at 6 p.m. in the Metropolitan State University Film Space at Founders Hall Auditorium. The 2009 FRONTLINE | PBS documentary provides a rare and intimate look into the lives of mentally ill offenders struggling to make it on the outside.
Understanding and Responding to Mass Incarceration (URMI) is an annual Metropolitan State University student forum with community participation. The 2020 theme, “From Mental Illness to Public Wellness,” will examine the specific challenges faced by people with mental illness across the spectrum of mass incarceration.
#URMI2020 welcomes:
• Morning Keynote by print and radio reporter ALISA ROTH, author of the book “Insane: America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness” about mental illness and the criminal justice system.
• Afternoon Keynote by NAOMI GAINES-YOUNG, independent hip-hop artist, singer/songwriter, mental health advocate, and a Marketing Assistant at NAMI Minnesota (National Alliance on Mental Illness).
• Poetry readings by SHVONNE, author, poet, speaker, and activist who has taught on race, education, culture, and society at Metropolitan State University and St. Catherine University.
Topics of discussion and Breakout Sessions include:
1. Solitary Confinement
2. Trauma and Healing
3. Implicit Bias
4. Youth and Suicide Risk
5. Intersectional Barriers LGBTQIA Inmates Face to Access Mental Illness Resources
6. Restorative Practices Circles of Support
7. Holistic Housing: Starting, Maintaining, and Working Within a Culturally Inclusive – Trauma Informed SUCCESSFUL Housing Model and Mental Illness
8. How Mental Illness and Incarceration Affects Families
9. Overmedicating and Misdiagnosing People with Mental Illness in Prison
10. Mentally Ill and Dangerous Civil Commitments
11. Policing and Mental Illness
**Pre-Conference Film Screening: Attend a free screening and discussion of the documentary film “The Released: The Cyclical Incarceration of Ex-Cons with Mental Illnesses,” Thursday, April 16 at 6 p.m. in the Metropolitan State University Film Space at Founders Hall Auditorium. The 2009 FRONTLINE | PBS documentary provides a rare and intimate look into the lives of mentally ill offenders struggling to make it on the outside.
#URMI2020 is being organized by Metropolitan State University’s Department of Human Services, School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, and the Institute for Community Engagement and Scholarship.
Questions? Please contact raj at 651-270-2616 or raj.sethuraju@metrostate.edu.
