Social Justice Behind and Beyond the Bars: Criminal Justice, Health, and Academic Medicine

The 2018 AAMC Social Justice Behind and Beyond the Bars: Criminal Justice Health and Academic Medicine Community Engagement Toolkit features videos, resources, and discussion questions that community members and academic health centers can use to:

• Understand the critical issues in correctional health
• Understand the role of policy and the social determinants of health in creating and perpetuating mass incarceration and health inequities among criminal justice populations
• Understand the role of academic medical centers in the provision of health care, education, and the conduct of research to improve the health and well-being of criminal justice-involved populations

Videos

We encourage you to use the Social Justice Behind and Beyond the Bars: Criminal Justice Health and Academic Medicine videos to learn about the unique needs and inequities faced by the currently and formerly incarcerated and their families, and what academic medicine – across its research, education, clinical and diversity and inclusion missions – is and could be doing to improve the health and well-being for this community.

This video explores how incarceration impacts personal health and well-being.

This video provides a glimpse at the health care received while incarcerated.

This video explores topics about the health care received after being released from jail or prison.

During this video, the interviewees discuss how incarceration has impacted the health and well-being of their families.

During this video, interviewees provide recommendations for medical students, doctors, the health care system and society as a whole about how to better provide care for those who are and have been criminally justice involved.

Toolkit Resources

• Social Justice Behind and Beyond the Bars Toolkit Guide (PDF)

• Session Guide PowerPoint Slides

• Group Discussion Questions (PDF)

• Learn Serve Lead PowerPoint Slides

Additional Resources

Medical Education

• UMass Health and Criminal Justice Program
  The Health and Criminal Justice Program, a part of UMass Medical School’s Commonwealth Medicine division, focuses on research and scholarship, education, service, and consulting for this population.

• Video: How Prison Can Open a Window to Better Health
  Jennifer Clarke, MD and medical program director for the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, explains the advantages of being a prison doctor.

Research

• The State of Research Funding From the National Institutes of Health for Criminal Justice Health Research

Clinical Care

• Maruschak, L., Chari, K. A., Simon, A. E., & DeFrances, C. J. (2016). National Survey of Prison Health Care: Selected Findings. National health statistics reports, (96), 1-23.

• Trestman, R. L., Ferguson, W., & Dickert, J. (2015). Behind bars: the compelling case for academic health centers partnering with correctional facilities. Academic Medicine, 90(1), 16-19.

• Video: The Challenges of Being a Prison Health Care Provider
  Warren Ferguson, MD, Vice Chair of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, outlines the unique set of competencies prison health care providers need to have.

Policy

• Ferguson, W. J., Cloud, D., Spaulding, A. C., Shelton, D., Trestman, R. L., Altice, F. L., ... & Taxman, F. S. (2016). A call to action: a blueprint for academic health sciences in the era of mass incarceration. Journal of health care for the poor and underserved, 27(2), 5-17.

Community Resources

• Video: Long-Term Recovery Begins with Culturally Informed Care
  Tammy Weiner, former director of operations and clinical director at The Hector Reyes House, discusses the program's unique approach to helping Latino men—some of whom have been incarcerated—recover from substance abuse for good.