In mid-April, the Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health (ACCJH) hosted the 17th Academic & Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health in Phoenix, Arizona. Supported by ForHealth Consulting™ at UMass Chan Medical School, the event brings together criminal justice health researchers, clinicians, public health experts, and policymakers. This year, the conference focused on the theme of “Climate Change and Carceral Health.”
This interdisciplinary event, based on ACCJH’s aim to improve evidence-based practices and policies to advance the health of justice-involved populations, highlights emerging health research and policy across the justice field. This was the largest attended conference to date—in all, 400 attendees from 35 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and three countries attended the event, representing 38 academic institutions. The event included about 200 academic presentations and posters.
The conference highlighted three keynote panel presentations.
The opening keynote, “How Journalists Can Help Researchers—and Researchers Can Help Journalists,” included four reporters from the Marshall Project. The panel featured Joe Neff, Christie Thompson, Nicole Lewis, and Maurice Chammah—all award-winning journalists who write on criminal legal issues and health. The discussion focused on the intersection of journalism and research and how the two disciplines can collaborate to illuminate the scope of impact that carceral systems can have and how to improve policy.
The second keynote panel was “Sovereignty, Overincarceration, & Human Rights: Fostering & Sustaining Equity in Tribal Nations.” Desiree Fox, the behavioral health division director/supervisory clinical psychologist for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes; Ann Miller, managing attorney for the Tribal Defenders Office of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes; and Ciara Hansen, clinical psychologist in the Iina’ Counseling Services department at Northern Navajo Medical Center, underscored inequities in the over-incarceration of Native Americans and discussed land sovereignty, climate, and the impact on tribal populations.
The final panel was “The Climate Crisis & the Carceral Violence of Extreme Heat.” A diverse array of experts, David Cloud, research director at Amend at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine; Betsy Craft, community engagement consultant at the University of Colorado; and John Fabricius, paralegal and digital campaigner at Dream.org JUSTICE, discussed the impact of extreme temperatures on staff and people who are incarcerated in jails and prisons. This panel highlighted the need for policy change and reduction of population in the context of rapid climate change.
ForHealth Consulting experts Michael Kane, MS, senior director, Criminal Justice Reform; Whitney Kraemer, LMHC, CCHP, director, Justice & Health Equity; and Tara Dhanraj, BS, director, Reentry and Community Based Programs presented “Supports of Individuals Returning to the Community: Contrasting Statewide Network versus Place-Based Approaches,” which highlighted work with the MassHealth Behavioral Health-Justice Involved (BH-JI) initiative as well as the Community Compass reentry center in Worcester, Mass.
Sustainably financed, the BH-JI’s goals include connecting individuals to healthcare and community services to improve health outcomes, decrease fatal overdoses, and reduce recidivism. The initiative went statewide in Massachusetts in 2022. Opened in 2023, the Community Compass is a community-based center serving formerly incarcerated people by providing flexible supports to increase success in the community.
Supported by ForHealth Consulting at UMass Chan Medical School, ACCJH is a member organization with a mission to advance the science and practice of health care for individuals and populations within the criminal legal system. Visit their website to learn more.
Take a look at photos from the conference below.
Back row from left to right: Laurie Andersen, Joe Sawicki, Glenn Doher, Meaghan Dupuis; middle row from left to right: Jennifer Vars, Kate Pivovarova, Mike Kane, Dyana Nickl, Chelsea Thomson, Tara Dhanraj; front row from left to right: Whitney Kraemer, Alexandra Boland.
