Kate Todrys is a human rights lawyer who specializes in health and human rights research and advocacy.
She currently serves as a member of the policy and New York executive committees of Human Rights Watch and as a pro bono attorney representing children seeking asylum for the Safe Passage Project. As a researcher with the Health and Human Rights division of Human Rights Watch, Kate focused on the health of prisoners, migrants, and sex workers; she has also worked with the Millennium Villages Project at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.
Kate has published numerous peer-reviewed public health journal articles, including in the Lancet; her op-eds have run in Jurist, the Huffington Post, Grist, and other outlets. She has been honored with the 2010 International AIDS Society HIV/TB Research Prize and a Robert L. Bernstein fellowship. She holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and an A.B. from Harvard College
Awards and Recognitions
Formal Education
Northwestern University
1985 – 1991 – gravida nibh vel velit et auctor alimo quet menean solli
Columbia University
1985 – 1991 – gravida nibh vel velit et auctor alimo quet menean solli
Previous Works
1999 – Best New Writer Award
2001 – Best New Novel
2005 – Best New Writer Award
2007 – Best New Novel
2011 – Best New Writer Award
2012 – Best New Novel
2015 – Best New Writer Award
2017 – Best New Novel
Fixing Solitary Confinement In New York State Prisons
Victor Pate spent almost two years in solitary confinement in New York prisons, off and on. Once, he said, he was isolat...
May 02, 2017 No comment
Condoms as Evidence of Prostitution in the United States and the Criminalization of Sex Work
This article advocates for the decriminalization of sex work and examines the effects of the practice by police of using...
May 24, 2013 No comment
Invisible Prisoners: The Fight for Human Rights
JURIST Guest Columnist Katherine Todrys of the Health and Human Rights Division of Human Rights Watch recounts her exper...
September 04, 2012 No comment
Laws Against Sodomy and the HIV Epidemic In African Prisons
Although laws against sodomy violate international law 1 and have myriad negative health effects, including impeded acce...
July 20, 2012 No comment
Criminal Justice Reform as HIV and TB Prevention in African Prisons
HIV prevalence in sub-Saharan African prisons has been estimated at two to 50 times that of non-prison populations [1], ...
May 08, 2012 No comment
Human Rights and Health Among Juvenile Prisoners in Zambia
Globally, over 1 million children in conflict with the law are in detention, yet little research, particularly from Afri...
December 01, 2011 No comment
30 Years into the HIV Epidemic, Still Locked Up and Left Out
I met Hellene in a Ugandan prison. She was 16 years old and living in rural Uganda when she was raped, leaving her pregn...
August 04, 2011 No comment
Human Rights Watch, “Even Dead Bodies Must Work”
Health, hard labor, and abuse in Ugandan prisons....
July 27, 2011 No comment
HIV and TB Spread Unchecked in Uganda’s Prisons
The darling of international health donors is doing little to preserve the health of its prisoners......
July 25, 2011 No comment
Health and Human Rights of Women Imprisoned In Zambia
The healthcare needs and general experience of women in detention in sub-Saharan Africa are rarely studied and poorly un...
June 01, 2011 No comment
Imprisoned and Imperiled: Access to HIV and TB Prevention and Treatment, and Denial of Human Rights, In Zambian Prisons
Although HIV and tuberculosis (TB) prevalence are high in prisons throughout sub-Saharan Africa, little research has bee...
February 11, 2011 No comment
Health Consequences of Pre-Trial Detention In Zambian Prisons
High rates of pre-trial detention and extreme prison overcrowding are closely linked to poor health--and particularly to...
October 15, 2010 No comment
Good Prisoner Health is Good Public Health
Zambia's policy of free universal HIV treatment and wide availability of tuberculosis drugs show an impressive commitmen...
April 29, 2010 No comment
Human Rights Watch, Unjust and Unhealthy
HIV, TB, and Abuse in Zambian Prisons...
April 20, 2010 No comment
Within But Without: Human Rights and Access to HIV Prevention and Treatment For Internal Migrants
Worldwide, far more people migrate within than across borders, and although internal migrants do not risk a loss of citi...
November 19, 2009 No comment
Human Rights Watch, Returned to Risk
Deportation of HIV-Positive Migrants...
September 20, 2009 No comment
Human Rights Watch, Discrimination, Denial, and Deportation
Human rights abuses affecting migrants living with HIV....
June 20, 2009 No comment
Access to Antiretroviral Treatment for Migrant Populations in the Global South
While international human rights law establishes the right to health and non-discrimination, few countries have realized...
January 14, 2009 No comment
Fear of Foreigners: HIV-Related Restrictions on Entry, Stay, and Residence
Among the earliest and the most enduring responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic has been the imposition by governments of en...
December 16, 2008 No comment