via Northwestern University
Physician-anthropologist proposes national “decarceration” program in New England Journal of Medicine
What is an alternative to police and prisons that builds safety and prevents violence in the U.S.?
In the wake of Tyre Nichols’ murder and the ongoing debate around U.S. public safety systems, Northwestern Medicine’s Eric Reinhart, MD, outlines such a plan.
Reinhart proposes in a special report published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) the creation of a new federal department of community safety and repair to lead a national “decarceration” program.
The program would be enabled by hiring two million community health and justice workers (giving preferential employment to formerly incarcerated people) as part of a national health and justice corps.
“The abysmal state of United States public health and safety are fundamentally intertwined, and neither can be separated from the destructive consequences of mass incarceration,” said Reinhart, a resident physician-scientist in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern. “We need to stop treating health and safety as if they’re separate policy domains. To build either public health or safety in America, we have to build both simultaneously – for that, we need a new approach that supports communities from within.
“Investing in this human infrastructure is essential for progressively replacing counterproductive reliance on police and prisons while also improving community safety, building effective systems with which to provide community-based care for people with disabilities and severe mental illness, and repairing the long-term health and economic harms that mass incarceration has caused for many of the more than 77 million people in the U.S. with criminal records.”
The 2,800-word special NEJM report is titled, “Reconstructive Justice – Public Health Policy to End Mass Incarceration.”
In the report, Reinhart outlines the scale of the widely ignored role that incarceration – both before and during COVID-19 – has played in undermining U.S. public health and health care, which he said now both rank worst among peer nations.
“Evidence also shows how poor public health and health care systems, in turn, exacerbate crime, violence, arrest and incarceration,” Reinhart said.
Reinhart reframes the movement for prison abolition as not just about dismantling oppressive institutions, but also a necessary reconstructive project of building community-based care infrastructure sufficient to usher police and prisons into obsolescence.
Reinhart has been working with government officials in Illinois on securing funding for pilot programs to implement the community health and justice worker model he describes in the NEJM article.
“Building on well-established success of community health worker programs for improving health outcomes and reducing health care spending, we are working with Illinois’ communities to demonstrate that the benefits these underutilized programs bring to communities aren’t just about health,” Reinhart said. “They also are essential for building shared safety for everyone rather than just the privileged few.”
The hope, he says, is to use Illinois as a proof-of-concept site en route to generating broader uptake of this paradigm nationwide.
Original Article: How a Public Health Program Could Usher Police, Prisons Into Obsolescence
More from: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine
The Latest Updates from Bing News
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Decarceration
- The Week in Impact Investing: ImpactAlpha’s First Decade
TGIF, Agents of Impact! Read on for co-founder Zuleyma Bebell’s reflections on ImpactAlpha’s 10-year anniversary. In today’s brief: 🗣 Raise a glass. In ...
- Free soul food and legal help collide in Tacoma on Thursday for ‘Justice Night’
Attendees can meet with an attorney for limited legal advice, including on driver’s re-licensing and vacating your criminal record.
- Markey, Pressley introduce declaration of environmental rights for incarcerated people
The resolution, filed by Senator Edward J. Markey and Representative Ayanna Pressley, points to environmental hazards such as mold, contaminated water, and extreme temperatures that people face while ...
- Slain Chicago police officer had gun, car stolen during attack: reports
The Chicago police officer who was shot and killed early while driving home from work had his gun and car stolen during the attack, according to local reports.
- Research investigates whether electing progressive US prosecutors leads to increased crime
In the United States, the number of so-called progressive prosecutors focused on criminal justice reform has risen, but few studies have addressed the relation between these prosecutors' policies and ...
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Mass incarceration
- What does society really hope to gain from our prison system?
In 2017, April was officially declared “Second Chance Month,” a time set aside for criminal justice reform advocates and policymakers to rethink approaches and best practices surrounding mass ...
- Review: JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE at Goodman Theatre
Under the meticulous direction of Chuck Smith, the Goodman’s newest revival of JOE TURNER’S COME AND GONE emphasizes the play’s continued relevance through masterful performances that find cause for ...
- Want to Fight Mass Incarceration? Start With Your Local Jail
A new collection of essays from academics and activists devoted to prison abolition focuses on the quiet but rapid expansion of the carceral system in small towns and municipalities.
- Medcalf: Exonerated of murder, author will speak at our Minneapolis book club about 'life and freedom'
Anthony Ray Hinton spent nearly 30 years on death row for a murder he didn't commit: "The only way I knew that I could get my joy back is that I had to forgive them." ...
- Mass Incarceration Nation
48, Issue. 3, p. 412. The United States imprisons a higher proportion of its population than any other nation. Mass Incarceration Nation offers a novel, in-the-trenches perspective to explain the ...