Support Services
Individual Support Services:
Community Support Services:
PASAN also provides support AIDS Service Organizations and community groups across Ontario. This includes:
- Individual support & counselling
- case management
- pre-release and post-release planning
- referrals
- advocacy for medical services
- housing supports
- phone support through collect calling
- emergency financial assistance (limited budget for fees related to identification and prison release. Application requirements exist)
Community Support Services:
PASAN also provides support AIDS Service Organizations and community groups across Ontario. This includes:
- resources & educational materials
- training
- assistance to set up prison outreach and support projects
- strategies to develop referral "hubs" for HIV positive prisoners
- networking for the development of a continuum of care for prisoners transferred between regions
Outreach & Education
Prison Education Programs:
PASAN conducts HIV prevention education programs in many adult institutions in the southern Ontario region. This program includes a Peer Educators Group, whereby ex-prisoners living with HIV are educators for current prisoners.
Cell Count:
PASAN produces a quarterly bulletin entitled CELL COUNT. This unique publication is contains content by/for/about prisoners and ex-prisoners. It is the only newsletter in Canada providing an uncensored forum for prisoners and youth in custody to explore and share their own experiences, ideas, and fears about HIV. PASAN distributes 2000 issues a year to prisoners, institutions, and agencies across the country. CELL COUNT is free for prisoners and people living with HIV in Canada.
Training Services:
PASAN conducts free training for those working with prison-affected and drug using populations. Training topics include:
PASAN conducts HIV prevention education programs in many adult institutions in the southern Ontario region. This program includes a Peer Educators Group, whereby ex-prisoners living with HIV are educators for current prisoners.
Cell Count:
PASAN produces a quarterly bulletin entitled CELL COUNT. This unique publication is contains content by/for/about prisoners and ex-prisoners. It is the only newsletter in Canada providing an uncensored forum for prisoners and youth in custody to explore and share their own experiences, ideas, and fears about HIV. PASAN distributes 2000 issues a year to prisoners, institutions, and agencies across the country. CELL COUNT is free for prisoners and people living with HIV in Canada.
Training Services:
PASAN conducts free training for those working with prison-affected and drug using populations. Training topics include:
- HIV & Prison
- Harm Reduction
- The Impact of Segregation
- Stigma & Discrimination
Systemic Advocacy
Since our beginnings in 1991, PASAN has always maintained a focus on systemic issues of HIV/AIDS and prisons. Some has been involved in many systemic advocacy efforts including:
- Prison Needle Syringe Project (2014/15)
- Advocacy against the use of segregation
- Presentation to the Canadian Human Rights Commission (2001)
- Advocacy for male-to-female transsexual/transgendered prisoners and HIV/AIDS (1999)
- Presentation to the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV / AIDS in Washington DC (1998)
- Presentation to the Parliamentary Subcommittee on AIDS (1996)
- HIV/AIDS in Youth Custody Settings: A Comprehensive Strategy (1996)
- Organization of the first National Workshop on HIV/AIDS in Prison (1995).
- HIV/AIDS in Prison Systems: A Comprehensive Strategy (1992)