The role of epidemiologists in addressing the public health consequences of the United States criminal legal system.

Exposure to the United States criminal legal system - whether through contact with law enforcement, incarceration in a jail or prison, or community supervision - is associated with a range of adverse health outcomes. There is mounting evidence that mass incarceration drives health inequities, particularly for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. However, relative to its outsized impacts on health and health inequities, the criminal legal system has received limited attention in epidemiology.

Transmission models of respiratory infections in carceral settings: A systematic review.

Background: The prevention and control of infectious disease outbreaks in carceral settings face unique challenges. Transmission modeling is a powerful tool for understanding and addressing these challenges, but reviews of modeling work in this context pre-date the proliferation of outbreaks in jails and prisons during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. We conducted a systematic review of studies using transmission models of respiratory infections in carceral settings before and during the pandemic.

Beyond Virtue-Signaling: Advancing Equity Through Design Justice and Public Health Critical Race Praxis.

As public health mourns the inequitable loss of lives to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and confronts other major social crises, practitioners must explicitly address systems of oppression in their everyday praxis. We describe how the principles of public health critical race praxis (PHCRP) and design justice (DJ) can advance equity in public health. We begin with an overview of PHCRP and DJ, and develop an integrated approach to facilitate community-led change.