Sean McCormick [he/him]
@seanmccormick.bsky.social
lawyer | center for hiv law and policy - hiv criminalization | hoping to create change in the systems that shape health | liberation/autonomy/harm reduction/decrim | views my own
Pinned
Dismantling Harm Reduction and Emboldening Carcerality: Fuel for the Overdose Crisis
by Sean McCormick, CHLP Staff Attorney
hivlawandpolicy.medium.com
Harm reduction has brought tremendous progress in the overdose crisis, but carceral tactics, like involuntary confinement, endanger any successes we've seen. The EO and other federal and state moves to carcerality are a threat to our health.
hivlawandpolicy.medium.com/dismantling-...
hivlawandpolicy.medium.com/dismantling-...
We just released a new donation map and updated two of our existing ones. These changes reflect legislative developments and improved understanding of the threat of HIV criminalization. www.hivlawandpolicy.org/news/chlp-up...
CHLP Updates HIV Criminal Law Offenses and Enhancements Maps | The Center for HIV Law and Policy
CHLP has updated its set of maps in its signature Mapping HIV Criminal Laws in the U.S. resource. The updates include a new Donation Offenses map and other changes reflecting recent legislative change...
www.hivlawandpolicy.org
November 13, 2025 at 9:35 PM
We just released a new donation map and updated two of our existing ones. These changes reflect legislative developments and improved understanding of the threat of HIV criminalization. www.hivlawandpolicy.org/news/chlp-up...
When people defend the criminal legal system as a way to protect us from rapists, remember it existed and permitted the most horrific abuses, protected these men, and allowed them to ascend to the highest positions in our country.
November 13, 2025 at 12:19 AM
When people defend the criminal legal system as a way to protect us from rapists, remember it existed and permitted the most horrific abuses, protected these men, and allowed them to ascend to the highest positions in our country.
Reposted by Sean McCormick [he/him]
"Prohibition is unfortunately the default response to complex issues.”
Denver has decisively voted to uphold its vape flavor ban, despite harm reductionists' warnings, reports @kiransidhu41.bsky.social.
Michael Bloomberg contributed $5 million to the ban campaign:
Denver has decisively voted to uphold its vape flavor ban, despite harm reductionists' warnings, reports @kiransidhu41.bsky.social.
Michael Bloomberg contributed $5 million to the ban campaign:
Denver Voters Uphold Flavor Ban, in Blow to Tobacco Harm Reduction
Michael Bloomberg donated $5 million to the ban campaign. The referendum result could damage smoking cessation and local businesses.
filtermag.org
November 5, 2025 at 6:18 PM
"Prohibition is unfortunately the default response to complex issues.”
Denver has decisively voted to uphold its vape flavor ban, despite harm reductionists' warnings, reports @kiransidhu41.bsky.social.
Michael Bloomberg contributed $5 million to the ban campaign:
Denver has decisively voted to uphold its vape flavor ban, despite harm reductionists' warnings, reports @kiransidhu41.bsky.social.
Michael Bloomberg contributed $5 million to the ban campaign:
Reposted by Sean McCormick [he/him]
🎥 #Atlanta PCC Advocacy Academy fellow DeKeitra Griffin explains how person-centred care helps deliver more effective treatment and support.
Find out more about person-centred care and the #IASPCC programme now:
www.iasociety.org/ias-programm...
Find out more about person-centred care and the #IASPCC programme now:
www.iasociety.org/ias-programm...
November 3, 2025 at 9:37 AM
🎥 #Atlanta PCC Advocacy Academy fellow DeKeitra Griffin explains how person-centred care helps deliver more effective treatment and support.
Find out more about person-centred care and the #IASPCC programme now:
www.iasociety.org/ias-programm...
Find out more about person-centred care and the #IASPCC programme now:
www.iasociety.org/ias-programm...
Reposted by Sean McCormick [he/him]
This feels very likely. They're just circling so much of the southwest side and constant helicopters. They definitely want to make the terror people experience into more videos online.
Probably likely there'll be DHS propaganda from their large convoy incursion in the south side of Chicago today. Besides that several people have been kidnapped today throughout the city and suburbs in other simultaneous operations.
October 28, 2025 at 10:35 PM
This feels very likely. They're just circling so much of the southwest side and constant helicopters. They definitely want to make the terror people experience into more videos online.
Reposted by Sean McCormick [he/him]
Attending the 2025 #APHA Annual Meeting in DC and feeling fearful of the heavy presence of local, state, and/or federal law enforcement agencies? You are not alone. Public Health Awakened has created a hotline number to provide accompaniment to APHA attendees — call or text us: 202-630-0803!
October 28, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Attending the 2025 #APHA Annual Meeting in DC and feeling fearful of the heavy presence of local, state, and/or federal law enforcement agencies? You are not alone. Public Health Awakened has created a hotline number to provide accompaniment to APHA attendees — call or text us: 202-630-0803!
The streamlined punishment system that Philly is trying to expand on is a disgusting assault on unhoused people in Kensington.
New Kensington ‘fast-track court’ lands most with warrants, back into the cycle of addiction and homelessness www.kensingtonvoice.com/new-fast-tra...
New Kensington ‘fast-track court’ lands most with warrants, back into the cycle of addiction and homelessness www.kensingtonvoice.com/new-fast-tra...
New Kensington ‘fast-track court’ lands most with warrants, back into the cycle of addiction and homelessness
Kensington Voice collected and verified data on 87 people who were arrested during the first months of the program and tracked their journeys through the court. Most ended up with Wellness Court bench...
www.kensingtonvoice.com
October 25, 2025 at 12:56 PM
The streamlined punishment system that Philly is trying to expand on is a disgusting assault on unhoused people in Kensington.
New Kensington ‘fast-track court’ lands most with warrants, back into the cycle of addiction and homelessness www.kensingtonvoice.com/new-fast-tra...
New Kensington ‘fast-track court’ lands most with warrants, back into the cycle of addiction and homelessness www.kensingtonvoice.com/new-fast-tra...
And we know the racialized harms caused by punitive drug laws geared at pregnant people. There is no public health justification for the criminalization of parents.
www.ajpmonline.org/article/S074...
www.ajpmonline.org/article/S074...
Illicit drug use during pregnancy in states with and without punitive prenatal substance use policies
: An increasing number of states have implemented punitive prenatal substance use
policies. These include policies that consider prenatal substance use as grounds for
substantiating abuse and neglect ...
www.ajpmonline.org
October 23, 2025 at 5:38 PM
And we know the racialized harms caused by punitive drug laws geared at pregnant people. There is no public health justification for the criminalization of parents.
www.ajpmonline.org/article/S074...
www.ajpmonline.org/article/S074...
A Day of Action to End Violence Against Women Living With HIV www.poz.com/article/day-...
A Day of Action to End Violence Against Women Living With HIV
Positive Women’s Network–USA hosts several October events to raise awareness of intimate partner violence and women living with HIV.
www.poz.com
October 23, 2025 at 3:08 PM
A Day of Action to End Violence Against Women Living With HIV www.poz.com/article/day-...
Reposted by Sean McCormick [he/him]
More people have died this year in immigration detention than any other year in decades.
The best way to prevent abuse and deaths in ICE custody is for Congress to stop funding the ICE detention machine.
The best way to prevent abuse and deaths in ICE custody is for Congress to stop funding the ICE detention machine.
ICE is hiring dozens of health workers as lawsuits, deaths in custody mount
Nearly as many migrants have died in detention so far this year than over the four years of the Biden administration.
www.politico.com
October 22, 2025 at 1:09 PM
More people have died this year in immigration detention than any other year in decades.
The best way to prevent abuse and deaths in ICE custody is for Congress to stop funding the ICE detention machine.
The best way to prevent abuse and deaths in ICE custody is for Congress to stop funding the ICE detention machine.
Next week, join these inspiring leaders of our fight for liberation. The event marks the start of our series on dismantling carceral strategies targeting PLHIV and building systems that genuinely promote health and safety.
Events next week featuring our team!⬇️
🗓️Wed., Oct. 22 at 12-1 PM ET: Join our co-founder @dreanyc123.bsky.social, S. Mandisa Moore-O’Neal of CHLP, Kris Henderson of @amistadlaw.bsky.social, and Jada Hicks of CHLP for a webinar about abolition and and how it shapes our collective movement. Register:
🗓️Wed., Oct. 22 at 12-1 PM ET: Join our co-founder @dreanyc123.bsky.social, S. Mandisa Moore-O’Neal of CHLP, Kris Henderson of @amistadlaw.bsky.social, and Jada Hicks of CHLP for a webinar about abolition and and how it shapes our collective movement. Register:
Abolition for our people: Abolition 101 - Grounding our movement in liberation | The Center for HIV Law and Policy
Across the country, people living with HIV are still being criminalized, punished, and denied care through discriminatory laws, sensationalized prosecutions, and harmful policies that defund the very ...
www.hivlawandpolicy.org
October 17, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Next week, join these inspiring leaders of our fight for liberation. The event marks the start of our series on dismantling carceral strategies targeting PLHIV and building systems that genuinely promote health and safety.
And people living with HCV are at an increased risk of criminalization due to Mississippi’s broad communicable disease law. These systems are designed to punish and isolate, not advance public health or safety.
“What we do now is that we let them get sick and die"
This isn't just a problem in Mississippi. Hepatitis C is highly curable, yet 80% of people in state prisons across the U.S. who have ever been diagnosed with it still have it 🧵
mississippitoday.org/2025/10/13/l...
This isn't just a problem in Mississippi. Hepatitis C is highly curable, yet 80% of people in state prisons across the U.S. who have ever been diagnosed with it still have it 🧵
mississippitoday.org/2025/10/13/l...
October 16, 2025 at 3:31 PM
And people living with HCV are at an increased risk of criminalization due to Mississippi’s broad communicable disease law. These systems are designed to punish and isolate, not advance public health or safety.
ICE terrorists are a threat to the health and safety of Chicago. chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Feds arrest WGN staffer, slam into resident’s car in Lincoln Square
Federal immigration authorities hit the back of a car while the driver was still inside after making arrests in Lincoln Square on Chicago’s North Side.
chicago.suntimes.com
October 10, 2025 at 9:15 PM
ICE terrorists are a threat to the health and safety of Chicago. chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
We continue to see progress in decriminalizing HIV, but carcerality is on the rise, with the federal government adding fuel to its resurgence.
After some states repeal HIV criminalization, activists hope to continue momentum, @byadamrhodes.bsky.social reports. North Dakota & Maryland became the fourth & fifth states to completely repeal laws that make it a crime to expose someone to HIV without their knowledge.
As some states repeal HIV criminalization, activists keep momentum
North Dakota and Maryland are the latest states to repeal laws that make it a crime to expose someone to HIV without their knowledge
prismreports.org
September 18, 2025 at 6:05 PM
We continue to see progress in decriminalizing HIV, but carcerality is on the rise, with the federal government adding fuel to its resurgence.
Maine HIV outbreak shows the risk of Trump’s crackdown on homelessness and drug use www.newsfromthestates.com/article/main...
Maine HIV outbreak shows the risk of Trump’s crackdown on homelessness and drug use
Penobscot County, Maine, is grappling with the largest HIV outbreak in the state’s history. Home to Bangor, a city of roughly 32,000, the county has identified 28 new cases over nearly two years. That...
www.newsfromthestates.com
September 17, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Maine HIV outbreak shows the risk of Trump’s crackdown on homelessness and drug use www.newsfromthestates.com/article/main...
And a major threat to public health.
A vaccine panel reshaped by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may vote to delay the hepatitis B shot for newborns, per ex officials. The move would mark a major shift in U.S. vaccine policy.
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
kffhealthnews.org/news/article...
RFK Jr.’s Vaccine Panel Expected To Recommend Delaying Hepatitis B Shot for Children - KFF Health News
A federal vaccine panel, recently reshaped by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is expected to vote on delaying the hepatitis B shot for newborns. Pediatricians warn that coul...
kffhealthnews.org
September 16, 2025 at 1:50 PM
And a major threat to public health.
Reposted by Sean McCormick [he/him]
Another update on this front: the Cook County Public Defender's Office tells me an unclear number of ICE agents, this time in a marked vehicle, went back to the domestic violence courthouse in Chicago around 1 pm today.
Office says they left about 30 min. later, again without any reported arrests.
Office says they left about 30 min. later, again without any reported arrests.
September 15, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Another update on this front: the Cook County Public Defender's Office tells me an unclear number of ICE agents, this time in a marked vehicle, went back to the domestic violence courthouse in Chicago around 1 pm today.
Office says they left about 30 min. later, again without any reported arrests.
Office says they left about 30 min. later, again without any reported arrests.
Harm reduction has brought tremendous progress in the overdose crisis, but carceral tactics, like involuntary confinement, endanger any successes we've seen. The EO and other federal and state moves to carcerality are a threat to our health.
hivlawandpolicy.medium.com/dismantling-...
hivlawandpolicy.medium.com/dismantling-...
Dismantling Harm Reduction and Emboldening Carcerality: Fuel for the Overdose Crisis
by Sean McCormick, CHLP Staff Attorney
hivlawandpolicy.medium.com
September 9, 2025 at 6:52 PM
Harm reduction has brought tremendous progress in the overdose crisis, but carceral tactics, like involuntary confinement, endanger any successes we've seen. The EO and other federal and state moves to carcerality are a threat to our health.
hivlawandpolicy.medium.com/dismantling-...
hivlawandpolicy.medium.com/dismantling-...
Reposted by Sean McCormick [he/him]
“The comment that [Kennedy] made about the vaccine schedule, it’s basically scientific racism, which has been debunked,” Dr. Oni Blackstock told HuffPost.
"It’s Basically Scientific Racism": Medical Experts Seriously Hate RFK Jr.'s Shocking Claim About Black People And Vaccines
“The comment that [Kennedy] made about the vaccine schedule, it’s basically scientific racism, which has been debunked,” Dr. Oni Blackstock told HuffPost.
www.buzzfeed.com
August 6, 2025 at 8:25 PM
“The comment that [Kennedy] made about the vaccine schedule, it’s basically scientific racism, which has been debunked,” Dr. Oni Blackstock told HuffPost.
Reposted by Sean McCormick [he/him]
Every jailhouse lawyer knows Dee Farmer’s name, even if they don’t know who she is.
What most of them don’t know is that the person who paved the road for them was a transgender woman who filed her suit from a federal prison cell, in an era when her gender identity was considered a mental illness.
What most of them don’t know is that the person who paved the road for them was a transgender woman who filed her suit from a federal prison cell, in an era when her gender identity was considered a mental illness.
In Prison, She Changed Constitutional Law. Meet the Trans Woman Behind the Case.
Farmer v. Brennan is one of the most cited Supreme Court cases of all time. Few people know just how revolutionary Dee Farmer was.
www.themarshallproject.org
July 27, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Every jailhouse lawyer knows Dee Farmer’s name, even if they don’t know who she is.
What most of them don’t know is that the person who paved the road for them was a transgender woman who filed her suit from a federal prison cell, in an era when her gender identity was considered a mental illness.
What most of them don’t know is that the person who paved the road for them was a transgender woman who filed her suit from a federal prison cell, in an era when her gender identity was considered a mental illness.
Reposted by Sean McCormick [he/him]
A U.N.-backed food security group has issued a dire warning: famine has officially now taken hold in northern Gaza and is expected to spread in the coming months.
U.N.-backed agency says famine exists in northern Gaza
A U.N.-backed food security group has issued a dire warning: famine has officially now taken hold in northern Gaza and is expected to spread in the coming months.
n.pr
August 22, 2025 at 10:40 AM
A U.N.-backed food security group has issued a dire warning: famine has officially now taken hold in northern Gaza and is expected to spread in the coming months.
The administration’s approach to our housing crisis takes inspiration from decades of oppressive practices; it is nothing new. Ending Housing First support will do nothing to address the failures of our housing system. Enough of this destruction. Call it out.
www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore...
www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore...
Criminalization And Forced Treatment Undermine Real Solutions To Homelessness | Health Affairs Forefront
Instead of confronting the structural forces that create and sustain homelessness, these strategies shift responsibility onto those most harmed by the policy failures that perpetuate this crisis.
www.healthaffairs.org
August 12, 2025 at 3:10 AM
The administration’s approach to our housing crisis takes inspiration from decades of oppressive practices; it is nothing new. Ending Housing First support will do nothing to address the failures of our housing system. Enough of this destruction. Call it out.
www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore...
www.healthaffairs.org/content/fore...
These tactics are coming for your community, as they have violently come to many communities across our country.
Anyway--- if there are organizations mobilizing in D.C. to help the homeless after Trump's threat of forced mass removal, please send + share!
August 11, 2025 at 2:58 PM
These tactics are coming for your community, as they have violently come to many communities across our country.
Devastating news. Opponents of bodily autonomy and health are responsible for the harmful effects their policy decisions will cause. www.wdsu.com/article/loui...
Last two Planned Parenthood locations closing in Louisiana
According to a report by Louisiana First News, the New Orleans and Baton Rouge Planned Parenthood locations will close on Sept. 30.
www.wdsu.com
August 7, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Devastating news. Opponents of bodily autonomy and health are responsible for the harmful effects their policy decisions will cause. www.wdsu.com/article/loui...