The New Mexico Peer Education Project launched in 2009 as a partnership of the state Corrections Department and Project ECHO, starting at a single correctional facility. Today, PEP operates in all of New Mexico’s 11 prison facilities and continues to grow, even outside the state. Indiana has implemented PEP at 10 prisons, and Colorado is in the early stages of creating a PEP program. Canada and the Dominican Republic have PEP programs as well.
To date, Project ECHO and the PEP team in New Mexico have trained nearly 1,040 peer educators, who in turn have educated more than 30,000 incarcerated people on hepatitis C and other infectious diseases. PEP is designed to reduce risky behaviors like needle sharing, lower reinfections, improve hygiene and health care, increase testing and treatment, and promote leadership, self-efficacy and personal responsibility.
From 0 to 1,500
PEP’s work, in conjunction with efforts like universal inmate screening and discounted drug pricing, is getting results. In 2003, not one of New Mexico’s estimated 2,300 prison inmates infected with hepatitis C had received treatment. In 2021, more than 600 inmates received treatment for hepatitis C. From January 2021 through March 31, 2022, 1,500 inmates were treated.
The success of this multi-faceted approach, with Project ECHO, have been recognized nationally and internationally as a way to help eliminate the burden of hepatitis-C. Due to the success of the program, Dr. Francis Collins, the President’s Science Advisor, cited* ECHO as a key solution for eliminating hepatitis-C nationwide. Recently the effectiveness of the approach in New Mexico was also highlighted by the New York Times as an outlier in the United States.
Recently, PEP expanded its programming. In July 2020, the New Mexico Community Peer Education Program began providing transitioning support for people recently released from prison who are on probation or parole. Similar to PEP, CPEP is a voluntary, peer-led partnership with the state Corrections Department. Its goal is to reduce recidivism by helping formerly incarcerated people re-entering society with challenges that include: employment, housing, health care, transportation by providing them with education, resources and referrals.
Inmate Health is Community Health
Fifteen years ago, PEP launched on the premise that inmate health is community health, because eventually incarcerated people return to their communities. It’s better for everyone if they return in good health, equipped to succeed at their new lives. PEP offers them that opportunity.
To learn more about the New Mexico Peer Education ECHO Program, email our team.
*A National Hepatitis C Elimination Program in the United States, JAMA, 2023