A Discussion with Emily Widra, Leo Beletsky, and Katie McCreedy
Wednesday, September 18 at 4:30pm ET on Zoom
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The introductory session to the Diagnosis of Incarceration speaker series will examine the depth and breadth of health inequities faced by individuals in the U.S. criminal legal system and how organizations across the country have attempted to capture the scope of this issue. We will scrutinize the extent to which these measures may or may not accurately reflect the realities of life inside the system. In an attempt to address critical gaps in understanding, we will seek to identify what remains uncharted about the full impact of incarceration on health, highlight the limitations of current assessments, and discuss the implications for future policy and practice.
Speakers
Emily Widra is a Senior Research Analyst at the Prison Policy Initiative. She oversees PPI's work examining the criminal legal system's pandemic response, and was co-author of Failing Grades: States' responses to COVID-19 in Jails & Prisons. Emily was the lead author on Where People in Prison Come From: The geography of mass incarceration and the co-author of States of Incarceration: The Global Context 2021 and has published blog posts on various topics, including how states' "good time" systems can reduce prison populations during the pandemic, resources and data for organizations focused on policing, and why Black women are disproportionately affected by HIV. She is a 2017 graduate of the Smith College School of Social Work.
Leo Beletsky is Professor of Law and Health Sciences at Northeastern University and Faculty Director of The Action Lab at the Center for Health Policy and Law. His expertise is in the public health impact of laws and their enforcement, with a special focus on drug overdose, infectious disease transmission, and criminal justice reform through a public health lens. Throughout his career, Professor Beletsky has applied his skills and expertise in service to governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations, including the United Nations, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and the City of New York.
Katie McCreedy graduated summa cum laude with a BS in Health Science & Master’s in Public Health from Northeastern in 2022. She is an accelerated-entry PhD student in Northeastern’s Population Health Sciences program concentrating in epidemiology and biostatistics with Leo Beletsky as her advisor. At the Lab, she leads quantitative and qualitative analysis projects, literature reviews, and policy advocacy. She specializes in translating research into engaging advocacy tools. Her interests include harm reduction policies and reducing the stigma surrounding the overdose crisis.
The Diagnosis of Incarceration speaker series is moderated and organized by Kennedy School MPA Candidate Dr. Cara Muñoz Buchanan, in collaboration with Katy Naples-Mitchell, Program Director of the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, and Sandra Susan Smith, Guggenheim Professor of Criminal Justice; Faculty Director, Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management; Director, Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy; Professor of Sociology; and Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute.