Policing, Incarceration, & Health Curriculum

Best done with others, our curriculum is split into sessions by topic, each with about four hours of content. This curated material is meant to serve as a starting point, providing at times more questions than answers. It serves to build a shared structural analysis, so that we might move beyond social service provision to organized agents of social change. Whether in person or virtual, two people or twenty, reach out to us!

How It Works

Step 1: Reach out to us via contact form!

Step 2: We will set a virtual meeting to cover any questions you may have and to personalize the content to your needs.

Step 3: We will send you resources and engage with your cohort intermittently as you make your way through the content!

We have done the work of curating readings & discussion questions - so that you can focus on developing a deeper understanding of how the criminal legal system impacts health. More importantly, you can begin to answer - what is your role in addressing these harms?

Reach Out

Why Do We Need This?

Medical and public health education, as it exists today, fails to equip students with the tools to systemically critique the harms of the criminal legal system. Our curriculum examines many facets of the American carceral system and their impacts on health. We intentionally balance academic research with the expertise and perspectives of advocates and organizers. As health professionals and educators, we believe in the value of open and critical dialogue to strengthen our collective analysis. As the criminal legal system continues to devastate the lives of many of our most vulnerable patients, the work of building true systems of care remains both urgent and necessary.

Student Testimonials

  • “Take this course if you want to understand the very real systemic issues facing people you will care for in your health career...You will learn to be uncomfortable, to care more, to grow more, and to do more.”

    - 2025 Student Graduate

  • “Taking the PIH class has broadened my view of not only the carceral system, but what it means to engage in activism— through questioning, critical thinking and working towards solutions. I feel equipped to enter discussions surrounding incarceration, policing and health and feel empowered that I can make a difference for myself and for my future patients.”

    - 2025 Student Graduate

  • “This course was an immersive awakening to the tragedy of healthcare within our current carceral system. It was heartbreaking and, at times, left me feeling nihilistic, but it also taught me how I can begin to be a force for change and a healthcare worker who makes a meaningful difference..."

    - 2025 Student Graduate

  • "I would say my biggest takeaway has been developing the ability to think critically about where information is coming from, what is its purpose, and who benefits from it. While one could access these readings without taking the course, the discussions were where the true learning happened..."

    - 2025 Student Graduate

  • "This course is exactly what you make it to be, you can read or participate as much as you want, but I would highly recommend contributing as much as you can because I had some of the most enlightening conversations of my academic career in this course.”

    - 2025 Student Graduate

  • "Understanding structural violence is critical to any complete medical education. If you, like me, were hoping for your medical education to provide thoughtful instruction about the social determinants of health, but found yourself disappointed when you got here, then this is the place to come.”

    - 2025 Student Graduate

  • “Medical school teaches you about how to advocate for your patients in clinic, this course teaches you how to advocate for your patients outside of clinic, to advocate for the things that really impact the health of our patients and communities.”

    - 2025 Student Graduate

  • “This course provided a phenomenal overview of how policing and incarceration are intertwined with poor health outcomes and perpetuate generational trauma. Each week has a theme with readings that provide a baseline framework for that week’s conversation, and questions are given to guide the conversation. There is so much information and it gives you an opportunity to dive deeper into topics that you feel extra passionate about.”

    - 2024 Student Graduate

  • "I really enjoyed how all the readings /discussions challenged my worldview in such a way that I feel as though I can more confidently advocate for the wellbeing of my patients and community. I also appreciate that we were given so many resources with various perspectives and styles because not only can I reference them in the future, I can also share them with my colleagues, friends, and family!”

    - 2024 Student Graduate

  • “The thoughtfully selected curriculum and readings introduced me to topics and perspectives I would've never come across or considered if not for this course. [It] helped build an important framework for me to understand the pervasiveness of the carceral system in American life.”

    - 2024 Student Graduate

Content Areas

  • Establishes how mass incarceration perpetuates health disparities, particularly among racial minorities and people with mental illness. Examines the historical roots of racial inequality in the U.S. legal system while exploring the public health implications of incarceration.

  • Analyzes how police practices impact community health outcomes and contribute to systemic inequalities. Challenges conventional narratives about policing's purpose while examining intersections with racial justice, gender-based violence, and community wellbeing. Frames police violence as a public health issue requiring healthcare professional engagement.

  • Distinguishes between legally defined "crime" and social harm, revealing how the criminal legal systems actions are informed by power and politics rather than community need. Examines how criminalization is selectively used disproportionately on marginalized populations while overlooking harms by powerful institutions and individuals. Provides framework for addressing structural determinants rather than focusing on individual actions.

  • Investigates how carceral logics infiltrate healthcare settings through practices like patient shackling, ICE presence care settings, and criminalization reproductive health. Challenges conventional approaches to hospital security while helping healthcare professionals recognize their potential complicity in systems of criminalization. Looks to inspire the development of more equitable approaches to patient care.

  • Evaluates ethical challenges and structural barriers to adequate care within carceral healthcare systems. Discusses the concept of "dual loyalty" and how security desires override patient needs. Examines how privatized carceral healthcare functions as cost control and questions whether healthcare in fundamentally harmful institutions can ever be adequate.

  • Provides definitions and tools for identifying and critiquing Copaganda. Deconstructs media narratives that promote pro-police perspectives while reinforcing harmful stereotypes about crime and justice. Reveals how these narratives shape public perception despite contradicting criminological evidence, and examines how medical credibility can legitimize questionable forensic practices that impact both policy decisions and clinical care.

  • Explores how punitive drug policies extend beyond the criminal legal system to impact healthcare access, family stability, and economic opportunity. Examines how criminalization approaches perpetuate stigma and exacerbate racial disparities. Evaluates alternative harm reduction strategies and the role healthcare professionals must play in disrupting systems of criminalization.

  • Critiques the repackaging of punitive systems as therapeutic interventions. Analyzes how prison expansion projects, electronic monitoring, and specialty courts often expand rather than diminish carceral control, challenging health professionals to recognize when their expertise is co-opted to legitimize punishment systems.

  • Presents alternatives to policing and incarceration through evidence-based approaches that prioritize public health frameworks. Explores unarmed crisis response programs, community-based violence prevention, and non-police traffic enforcement while introducing abolitionist perspectives that view accountability as repair rather than punishment. Emphasizes health professionals' role in building community infrastructure that addresses root causes of harm.

  • Examines the various intersections between psychiatry, policing, and carceral systems.

  • Examines the many intersections between pediatrics, policing, and carceral systems.

  • Examines the many intersections between reproductive health, policing, and carceral systems.