Conference News
In Massachusetts, Inmates Will Be Among First to Get Vaccines
In Massachusetts, Inmates Will Be Among First to Get Vaccines - The New York Times
2021 Keynote Speakers
We are please to annouce the 2021 keynote speakers.
Morgan Godvin is a freelance writer, advocate, harm reductionist, and Commissioner on the Oregon Alcohol and Drug Policy Commission. She is formerly incarcerated, having spent 4.5 years in federal custody for a drug conviction. Her advocacy centers around reducing the harms associated with drug use, preventing overdose death, improving jail and prison conditions, and increasing access to higher education in prison. She is a founding member of the Oregon Consortium for Higher Education in Prison. During her years of active addiction, she was jailed many times and has written about her experiences with drug court, court-mandated treatment, jail, and corrections health. She continues writing articles for popular press publication while beginning her academic career. Additionally, she works as a writer and researcher with the Health in Justice Action Lab at Northeastern University School of Law. She aspires to a career in public health law. She is a student at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health in Portland, Oregon.
Dr. Chris Beasley is a community psychologist who conducts community-engaged applied research to strengthen communities while also participating in community organizing to support such settings and helping students develop knowledge and skills for this work. As the Principal Investigator for the Post-Prison Education Research Lab (PERL), he uses a variety of psychological sub-disciplines to better understand social and psychological factors that facilitate and hinder transitions from prison to college. Dr. Beasley's current focus of inquiry is the psychological process through which formerly incarcerated people develop a broader understanding of their future potential and undergo processes of identity change. He is also strengthening UW Tacoma's support for people making these transitions by leading the development of a Husky Post-Prison Pathways program and advising the Formerly Incarcerated Student Association of UWT. As a community organizer, Dr. Beasley co-founded the national Formerly Incarcerated College Graduates Network and supports the development of similar networks of formerly incarcerated leaders and advocates for prison and post-prison higher education. Lastly, Dr. Beasley is a Board Director for From Prison Cells to PhD, an organization that provides post-prison higher education mentoring and support.
Dr. Stanley Andrisse. I am an endocrinologist scientist at and faculty at Howard University College of Medicine and Georgetown Medical Center.
My interest in this stems from my story. Growing up in Ferguson-Florissant, Missouri, I got involved with making poor decisions at a very young age. By my early 20’s, those poor decisions had exacerbated and I found myself sitting in front of a judge facing 20 years to life for drug trafficking charges. The judge sentenced me to 10 years in a maximum-security prison. I did a lot of reading, writing, and soul searching in prison. Through many letters to judges and correctional officials, I was accepted into a drug rehabilitation program while in prison.
I am quite certain that it was because of this “criminal conviction” question that I was rejected from several of the PhD programs I had applied to. Fortunately for me, I had made a good impression on one of my college professors (before I went to prison). This professor vouched for me and had a connection to the admissions committee at Saint Louis University. I completed my PhD at the top of my class and 2 years earlier than expected, suggesting that I was indeed qualified to have been admitted to the other programs.
The short one sentence "Convictions" question is a mountainous barrier to one’s successful reintegration into society. It is my and many others’ scarlet letter. Yes, I am a convicted felon. But I am also a doctor, a scientist, an MBA holder, a newlywed husband, a son to an aging mother, a community organizer, an institutional leader, a youth mentor, a published author, and many other things. Eliminating me before you know all of these other great things is an injustice to society.
2021 Plenary Speaker Speakers
We are pleased to annouce 2021's virtual ACCJH conference plenary speakers.
Dee Dee Chamblee is an Executive and a seasoned advocate within and for the Transgender community. Ms. Chamblee has been a mentor, life coach, and consultant who brings over 20 years of solid community-based organizing and data collection experience, to bear on issues that include Gender Identity, Trans-healthcare, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse prevention, Mental Health and Transformative Social Justice issues. In 2011 President Obama, honored her as a “Champion of Change” and her Blog on Trans-Equality debuted on the White House website, she continues to make change happen in Atlanta.
As co-founder of Solutions Not Punishment Coalition, a Trans-led group of social justice orgs and members, who all came together to stop! a Banishment ordinance that would have banished sex workers from the city of Atlanta. Snap Co offered the city a better solution than banishment by creating a Pre-Arrest Diversion Program. PAD.which has led to a more inclusive Lovely!Atlanta ! Lamour!!!
Jondhi Harrell is the Founder and Executive Director of The Center for Returning Citizens (TCRC) in Philadelphia. TCRC offers comprehensive services for prisoners and formerly incarcerated people in the areas of re-entry, pre-entry, direct services and advocacy. Jondhi is a Community organizer, writer, Public speaker and advocate for criminal justice reform and a leader in the struggle against mass incarceration.
Pamela Winn is an activist from Atlanta, GA that studied Biology at Spelman College, obtained three post-secondary degrees in Nursing, and worked more than 10 years as a Registered Nurse specializing in Women’s Health prior to serving a 78 month federal sentence for a white-collar crime while pregnant.
Pamela Winn is the founder of RestoreHER US.America, a policy advocacy organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of justice-involved women and work in partnership with those women to end the mass incarceration of women of color and pregnant women. Pamela led RestoreHER to spearhead the unanimous passage of HB345, #DIGNITY For Incarcerated Women GA. She is also co-founder and board member of the Formerly Incarcerated College Graduates Network which promotes higher education of convicted people. Pamela serves as National Advisory Council for the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, the Women’s Advisory Board with Human Impact Partners, and the National Anti-Shackling Advisory Board where she developed a Bill of Rights for Incarcerated Pregnant People. She is a board member of Motherhood Beyond Bars and the Association for Justice-Involved Females and Organizations (AJF0).
Pamela Winn was invited to to the White House for the first Prison Reform Summit and the Criminal Justice Reform Summit where she spoke on Women’s Issues. She consulted on the federal legislation, Pregnant Women In Custody Act and also provided language for pregnant women in federal prison, which was instrumental in the historical passage of HR5682, First Step Act.
Pamela Winn is a 2017 Leading with Conviction Fellow of JustLeadershipUSA, 2018 Erin J. Vuley Fellow with Feminist Women’s Center, 2019 Community Change Women’s Leadership Fellow, and 2019 Soros Justice Fellow.
Jose Hamza Saldana is Director of RAPP, Release Aging People in Prison Campaign. RAPP is a grassroot community organizing and advocacy campaign co-founded by a collective of formerly incarcerated people. RAPP works to end mass incarceration and promote racial justice through the release of older people in prison and those serving long-term prison sentences as a means of uprooting greater forces of injustice that upholds legacies of racism, revenge, Perpetual punishment and the control of Black and other communities of color.
Jose Hamza Saldana is formerly incarcerated. He was released from state prison in January 2018 after a total of 38 years of incarceration. During the decades of incarceration, Jose had obtained a college degree. More importantly, he had committed himself to advocating for revolutionary solutions to the social and economic condition that People of Color inherit at birth, which has often led to perpetual incarceration. He is a Resurrection Study Group Alumnus, which promote The Non-Traditional Approach to Criminal and Social Justice; co-founder of several therapeutic programs including, “A Challenge to Change: A Comprehensive Approach to addressing Criminal Thinking, Behavior and Attitudes;” “Mentoring Beyond the Walls: A Prison to School Pipeline;” and “Restorative Community Project: A Therapeutic Alternative to
Incarceration.” He is the recipient of the 2019 Freedom Fighter Award issued by Citizens Against Recidivism.
The 14th Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health will be held virtually
Call for abstracts and scholarship applications have been closed.
Announcements have been sent out for new abstract submissions.
Scholarship applications reviews are starting next week, announcements to follow.
Cancellation of the 13th Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health
April 2, 2020
Dear Colleague,
It is with deep regret that we must inform you of a decision to cancel our annual conference which had been rescheduled to June 25 and 26 in Raleigh, NC, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are sorry for any inconvenience that this has caused you, but we believe that it is the right decision at this time during a historic pandemic with an uncertain timeframe.
We plan to hold the 2021 Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health on March 4 - 5, 2021 at the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley and look forward to seeing you at that time.
If you registered for this conference, please go to the following link to review instructions on next steps. 2020 ACCJH Conference Registrant Options.
Please note that all hotel reservations at the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley within the conference block for April and June, 2020 have been canceled by the hotel and you don’t need to contact them. However, if you booked a hotel elsewhere, it is your responsibility to cancel that reservation.
The 2020 Conference was on board to be our most successful conference ever, and it was linked to three other NIH-sponsored events in addition to the National Hepatitis Corrections Network, with whom we have partnered for many years. To capitalize on the outstanding speakers and topics we had booked for the conference, we are planning to speak with presenters to carry forward the selected presentations and posters, with an opportunity for you to update abstracts given new research and data. We will also have an open call for abstracts later this year depending on the availability of the 2020 presenters. If you are a speaker, please go to the following link: 2020 ACCJH Conference Presenter Options
Thanks to a generous grant from the Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation, we awarded 32 scholarships for 2020. If you are a scholarship recipient, we plan to discuss the disposition of Year One funding with the Langeloth Foundation in a week or two and will communicate with you as soon as possible. In the meantime, please work with your airlines on flight refunds. If there are extenuating circumstances contact Jacqueline.Richards@umassmed.edu and we can review on a case by case basis. Many airlines have been understanding of this pandemic and are refunding flights.
The ACCJH Board of Directors is forming a workgroup to consider development of a menu of distance learning events in the months to come, likely commencing over the Summer.
We look forward to seeing you at the 2021 Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health on March 4 - 5, 2021 in Raleigh, NC. Registration will be open in September.
Coronavirus COVID-19 and the Correctional Facility for the Correctional Healthcare Worker
COVID-19
Over the last week, COVID-19 Coronavirus has become a global topic of concern.
Our top priority remains the health and safety of all participants at our conferences, including attendees, exhibitors, market suppliers, staff, industry partners, and others involved. Given the dynamic nature of this situation, ACCJH, which includes several experts in public health and infectious disease, will monitor efforts to reduce spread of the virus and will follow evidence-based decision-making to ensure the safety of the healthcare community currently planning to assemble in North Carolina.
We remain committed to communicate regularly regarding our attendance and status.
Aging Research in Criminal Justice & Health (ARCH) Network Pilot/ Exploratory Grant Funding Application
The goal of the project titled “Health Disparities Research in Aging: The Aging Research in Criminal Justice & Health (ARCH) Network” is to develop a national, multi-disciplinary community of emerging and established researchers to catalyze and support research and interventions designed to improve health and social outcomes in the growing population of criminal justice-involved older adults and people with serious illness.
The ARCH Network leadership team spans two geographically distinct universities – the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
Our purpose is to bring public health, health-related research, and criminal justice reform together into one conversation. Our vision is to create and use evidence-based health and healthcare solutions to design or inform policies and programs that advance criminal justice reform.
Pilot Research Program: Our goal is to support new and established scientists in research on the health and/or healthcare needs of criminal justice-involved older adults and people with serious illness. Successful pilot/exploratory projects ($10,000-$15,000 each) will be selected for their capacity to support multidisciplinary, community-engaged, and/or life-course research that has the potential to directly benefit criminal justice-involved older adults. The possibility of funding exceeding $15,000 may be considered with special permission and prior approval, please email sarah.vanzanten@ucsf.edu if interested.
Eligibility: To be eligible for the ARCH Funding, principal applicants must: Be an ARCH Network Member and be based in the US (other research team members can be non-US based). *Strong Preference will be given to Junior Faculty, early stage investigators, and/or trainees.
Selection: Proposals will be scored according to the NIH system by a 3-person committee comprised of ARCH Network Executive and Advisory Board Members. We expect to fund 2 or 3 pilot projects per year that study opportunities across the life course where programmatic and policy interventions can be tested to reduce health disparities for criminal justice-involved older
adults and people with serious illness.
All relevant grant award recipients will receive direct mentoring in the area of research ethics, study design, and implementation from an appropriate Network Contributing Member or other senior researcher if needed.
All research funded by the network that enrolls human research must be approved by an institutional review board governing human subjects research (IRB).
**Successful applicants will be asked and highly encouraged to present their project proposal at the ARCH Annual Meeting on April 1, 2020.
Submission Dates: Applications are due on Friday, February 21, 2020. Completed applications must be emailed to sarah.vanzanten@ucsf.edu no later than 3:00 pm PST, Friday, February 21, 2020. Electronic applications should be formatted as a single PDF document with pages numbered sequentially. If you do not receive notification that the electronic copy of your proposal has been received by 5:00 pm PST Friday, February 21, 2020 – please call (415) 514-7510. *We expect to make funding decisions by Monday, March 9, 2020.
Application Guidelines: Completed applications must contain the components listed below and follow provided formatting instructions (Arial font, 11 point, .5-inch margins, continuous page numbering on fully assembled application package) and maximum page limits.
Please number all pages sequentially.
1. Cover Page
2. NIH Biosketch from Primary Investigator (Click here for Example and instructions (2 links) – CV accepted for Community Research Applicants)
3. NIH Biosketch from Secondary Investigator or Mentor (If Applicable)
4. Specific Aim(s): Describe the aim(s) and objectives that will determine the scope, depth,and overall direction of the study (1 page max)
5. Research Strategy: Describe the overall strategy, methodology (including study design, study population and sample, and key measures), basic planned analyses, and potential to lead to larger scale work (3 page max)
6. Budget requested and basic justification (salary, travel, transportation, etc.)
7. Bibliography and References
8. Letter of Endorsement from Primary Mentor (If Applicable)
9. NOTE: Protection of Human Subjects Documentation – documentation of IRB approval will be required before funds are dispersed
Review Criteria: THE ARCH Network Review Committee will use the following criteria to assess each application. These are provided so applicants will understand items of importance to reviewers. Please note: priority will be given to proposals that map to the Network’s research agenda.
Significance:
• Does this study address important questions associated with the health of criminal justice involved older adults and/or people with serious illness?
• Is the study consistent with the aims of the Network and does it have relevance to the Network’s goals?
• What is the scientific premise of the study? The premise concerns the quality and strength of existing research used to form the basis for the proposed research question; describes general strengths and weaknesses of prior research being cited as crucial to support the application
Innovation:
• Are the aims important, original, and innovative?
Approach:
• Is the design, (including composition of the study population), methods, and analyses adequately developed, and appropriate to the aims of the project?
• Are data collection and analysis methods clear and adequately justified?
• Is the study feasible to accomplish within the stated time frame (one year) and with the requested resources?
• Because these are exploratory/pilot funds, proposal will be evaluated for its potential to lead to future larger-scale work
Environment:
• Does the scientific environment in which the work will be done contribute to the probability of success? This information may be described in a mentor’s letter if the project proposed is from a more junior researcher and/or may be included in the Research Strategy section)
Applicant:
• Does the PI explicitly demonstrate a clear commitment to the study?
• Do the applicant’s training, experience, and accomplishments indicate the applicant is likely to accomplish the project’s objectives?
• Is there evidence of multidisciplinary and/or community collaboration?
Budget and Resources:
• Is the budget appropriate and well justified?
For further information, contact:
Sarah.VanZanten@UCSF.edu
2020 Conference Schedule Now Available!
The Academic Consortium on Criminal Justice Health is very pleased to announce the program schedule for the 13th Academic & Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health. This is going to be a landmark event! We had record submissions for presentations, posters and scholarships. Thanks to a grant from Langeloth Foundation, we will have 8 scholarship recipients from four categories: students, early career investigators, community based stakeholders and criminal justice stakeholders.
Additionally, there are three pre-conferences taking place on March 31-April 1 including the Justice Community Opioid Intervention Network (JCOIN) Research Education program funded by NIDA, the National Hepatitis Corrections Network (NHCN) meeting, and the Aging in Criminal Justice Research Network (ARCH), an R24 funded by NIA. Finally, the Center for AIDS Research Justice Substance Use HIV/AIDS Involved Populations (CFAR J-SHIP) will have a track in the conference both days and is funded by NIAAA.
In the past, this conference has generally drawn 250-275 participants. We are expecting that will swell to 350 this year with the additional pre-conferences. This will be a can't miss event!
View the 2020 Schedule here
Register to attend today!
Request for Applications for National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Justice Community Opioid Translational Center: JCOIN Scholar and JCOIN Investigator Tracks
On behalf of National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Justice Community Opioid Intervention Network (JCOIN) Coordinating and Translational Center, we are inviting you or other interested colleagues to submit applications for capacity building research education programs to be launched on March 31 and April 1, 2020 in advance of the Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health in Raleigh, NC.
We are planning two tracks of research education on March 31-April 1, the JCOIN Scholar Track and the JCOIN Investigator Track. These programs are described here: https://www.jcoinctc.org/cbapplications/ The Investigator Track is designed for individuals interested in a career as an independent investigator and will focus on a project to be designed and carried out over the next two years with some funding available via a competitive application. This track will emphasize research proposal writing, grant management, mentorship and advanced research skills needed to be successful in criminal justice settings. The Scholar Track will support clinicians, criminologists, analysts interested in collaborating and community stakeholders on research in justice settings and will be one year in duration, focusing on the conduct of research in justice settings, formulating research questions, understanding elements of research design, ethical issues concerning research in justice settings, and collaborator roles to ground and translate the conduct of research in justice settings. Detailed curricular plans and agenda will be forthcoming in the next month.
Funding is available to support attendance at these research meetings as well as the Academic and Health Policy Conference on Correctional Health which follows on April 2 and 3, 2020.
Applications for both tracks are now open and the deadline for the receipt of applications is Wednesday, December 11, 2019.
Investigator Application: https://www.jcoinctc.org/cbapplications/investigator/
Scholar Application: https://www.jcoinctc.org/cbapplications/scholar/
Applications will be competitive. For 2020, we anticipate accepting 5 investigator track participants and 10 scholar participants. Application opportunities will be offered annually. Following this pilot year, the number of accepted participants will increase.
We are very excited about developing these resources and please ask you to pass along this email to colleagues and constituents whom you believe would value these opportunities.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email us:
Warren J. Ferguson, MD University of Massachusetts Medical School warren.ferguson@umassmemorial.org
Danielle S. Rudes, PhD George Mason University Danielle.rudes@gmu.edu
Capacity Building Education Co-Directors, JCOIN Coordinating and Translation Center
