National Public Health Week Keynote: Dr. Homer Venters

National Public Health Week Keynote: Dr. Homer Venters

Courtney File

Hofstra University’s National Public Health Week allows for students and faculty to gain knowledge from distinguished guests. This year’s keynote speaker Dr. Homer Venters, a physician, epidemiologist and well-known leader in health and human rights issues did not disappoint. Dr. Venters presented new, strategies which he hopes will drastically, reduce health related problems in prisons.

His new book, Life and Death in Rikers Island, outlines health risks in jails and prisons. Dr. Venters stresses, “it is embarrassing how little we know about how and why people die behind bars.”

Dr. Venters discussed severe punishments and their impact on mental health issues. For example, Solitary Confinement, the “practice of putting someone in a cell by themselves for 20-23 hours per day,” is one such punishment with adverse psychological effects. One outcome is suicidal tendencies. Dr. Venter pointed out, “Suicide and self-harm are much more common in solitary confinement”. Therefore, Dr. Venters became interested in creating an alternative solitary confinement system, which requires inmates spend time in a therapeutic unit after solitary confinement. This new system has reduced mental health issues, including suicidal tendencies, in many inmates who leave solitary confinement.

Of interest was Dr. Venters discussion of the differences between Nassau County jails and State level prisons. Compared to most county jails, Nassau County has a sophisticated system. However, at the state level the complicated issue of opioid usage unfortunately becomes a factor. Dr. Venters stated, “lots of people who use opioids are involved in the judicial system.”

Dr. Venters also addressed racial issues revealing, “right now, everyone seems to be concerned with the opioid epidemic, I think it is because more white people are dying because of it.” Additionally, the keynote speaker discussed how there is “great racial disparity” in how solitary confinement is used on inmates.

            With 12 million incarcerations a year, the unfortunate facts remain, many inmates will return. When comparing in-prison health care systems around the world, the United States’ system is deficient. Most jails across the United States, and in New York are not as sophisticated as Nassau County. One problem in the United States is our paper filing system. This antiquated system is still in use for medical records. This creates a greater margin of error. Most European countries have electronic medical records in place already.

            Obviously, the United States is struggling with health care issues in general, however in prisons health care is historically not valued. As we look to the future, hopefully Dr. Venters mandatory therapeutic unit will become more widely used for issues in addition to solitary confinement. If mental health is at the forefront of incarcerations, hopefully there will be a decline in the number of inmates returning as well as a decline in deaths.