A candidate for our Global or US Indigenous Health Law and Policy position has a JD and is a Ph.D. candidate. The candidate will visit the College of Health on Wednesday, November 16 and Thursday, November 17. The candidates current research interests are in health policy research, public health law, Sovereign State policy, and legal epidemiology. Specifically, they are interested in health and healthcare access of Indigenous peoples in jails and prisons and while incarcerated in Tribal Jails. They want to bridge the gap between law and science to address systemic racism and mass incarceration. They are also a licensed to practice law. 

Global Experiential Talk: "Covid-19 in U.W. Prisions: Policy Implications and Health Outcomes" 

Abstract: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has a high impact on prisons in the US with current confirmed prison cases at almost 400,000 and over 2,700 confirmed deaths. Many local, state, and federal laws and facility policies were created in an attempt to combat the effects of COVID-19 on staff and individuals incarcerated in prisons. It is currently unknown how these laws and policies impact COVID-19 health outcomes including testing, positive cases, and deaths for individuals incarcerated in prisons and prison staff. The objective of this project is to assess the impact of laws and policies on COVID-19 outcomes including testing, positive cases, and deaths in prisons across the US. To achieve the objective, the following aims will be considered: (1) describe the healthcare access policies and policy implementation changes during the COVID-19 pandemic in correctional facilities in all 50 states, Washington D.C., federal prisons, and ICE run institutions and estimate the association between changes in healthcare access policies and COVID-19 testing rate and case rate and (2) describe the COVID-19 mitigation strategy policies and policy implementation changes during the COVID-19 pandemic in correctional facilities in all 50 states, Washington D.C., federal prisons, and ICE run institutions and estimate the association between changes in COVID-19 mitigation strategy policies to COVID-19 case rate and percent positivity among individuals incarcerated and correctional staff. The candidate will utilize the Legal Determinants of Health and the Public Health Law Research Framework to guide my methods. Using policy evaluation methods, mitigation strategy and healthcare access laws and policies either enacted during or throughout the COVID-19 pandemic will be analyzed. The laws and policies will be compared to health outcomes variables including COIVD-19 testing, positive tests, and deaths using evaluation methods.