The Center for Health and Justice Transformation (CHJT), previously known as the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, is a sponsored project of the Brown University Community Health Institute that advocates for and conducts research on the health of those who are incarcerated or involved in the criminal justice system. The Community Health Institute is a Brown University-sponsored program that promotes “health equity” and attempts to eliminate health disparities in Rhode Island. ^{1  2  3}

History and Activities

The Center for Health and Justice Transformation was founded as the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights in 2005 at the Miriam Hospital in Providence. The original Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights was created to advocate for incarcerated people and others in the criminal justice system through research, advocacy, and education. Its research focused on corrective health and its non-research activities focused on three core areas: raising awareness about healthcare issues facing those who are incarcerated; providing opportunities for college, graduate, and medical students to engage in criminal justice issues; and developing and supporting projects on incarceration, recidivism, and public health. ^{1  2}

According to Internet archives, the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights became the Center for Health and Justice Transformation in 2020. ²

As of November 2025, the CHJT is a part of Brown University’s health department and a project of the Community Health Institute, a program of Brown University that promotes “health equity” and attempts to eliminate health disparities in Rhode Island. ^{3  4}

The CHJT advocates for reducing the number of incarcerated criminals and instead moving toward “systems of care and community support” that focus on issues like poverty, mental health care, housing, and substance abuse. The center focuses on the left-of-center principles of equity and inclusion, including “those with lived expertise in the criminal legal system,” in conversations about “health equity.” ³

The CHJT has two primary advocacy areas: statewide criminal and justice planning and criminal reentry.  ³

As part of its statewide criminal and justice planning advocacy, the CHJT promotes the end of local and city-operated jails in favor of single, centralized, statewide correctional systems to allow for unified strategies to address people from pre-trial to sentencing to reintegration after incarceration. The CHJT advocates that the public health approach to criminal justice planning should focus on equity. A CHJT representative was appointed by the governor of Rhode Island to the Rhode Island Criminal Justice Policy Board. ⁵

As part of its reentry advocacy, the CHJT focuses on the “systemic inequities that impact the communities that incarcerated individuals are returning to,” including affordable housing, transportation, and health care services. The CHJT argues that a lack of sufficient social services helps explain high recidivism rates. ⁶

People

The co-founder and senior medical advisor of the Center for Health and Justice Transformation is Josiah Rich. Rich spent nearly 30 years at Brown University’s Infectious Diseases and Immunology Center at the Miriam Hospital. ^{7  8}

Another co-founder of the CHJT is Scott Allen. Allen was the co-director of the Center for Health and Justice Transformation, the predecessor of the CHJT, from 2005 to 2011, at which time he became a professor at the University of California, Riverside. ^{7  9}

Justin Berk has worked as the director of the CJKT since 2023. He is also an associate professor at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. Previously, he was the producer, host, and founder of the Cribsiders Pediatric Podcast, a staff physician and medical director at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, the producer of the Curbsiders Internal Medicine Podcasts, and a resident physician at Johns Hopkins Hospital. ^{7  10}

As of October 2020, Jody Rich was also listed as a co-founder of the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, the predecessor of the CHJT.  ²

1. “Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights.” GivePulse. Accessed November 21, 2025. https://www.givepulse.com/group/170279-Center-for-Prisoner-Health-and-Human-Rights
2. “The Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights.” Wayback Machine. Archived October 22, 2020. Accessed November 21, 2025. https://web.archive.org/web/20201022181656/https://www.prisonerhealth.org/.
3. “Center for Health and Justice Transformation.” Brown Health. Accessed November 21, 2025. https://www.brownhealth.org/centers-services/center-health-and-justice-transformation.
4. “Community Health Institute.” Brown Health. Accessed November 21, 2025. https://www.brownhealth.org/centers-services/community-health-institute.
5. “Statewide Criminal Justice Planning.” Brown Health. Accessed November 21, 2025. https://www.brownhealth.org/centers-services/center-health-and-justice-transformation/statewide-criminal-justice-planning.
6. “Reentry.” Brown Health. Accessed November 21, 2025. https://www.brownhealth.org/centers-services/center-health-and-justice-transformation/statewide-criminal-justice-planning.
7. “Meet Our Team.” Brown Health. Accessed November 21, 2025. https://www.brownhealth.org/centers-services/center-health-and-justice-transformation/about-chjt/meet-our-team.
8. “Josiah D. Rich, MD, MPH.” Brown Health. Accessed November 21, 2025. https://www.brownhealth.org/providers/josiah-d-rich-md-mph.
9. “Scott Allen.” LinkedIn. Accessed November 21, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-allen-749183130/details/experience/.
10. “Justin Berk, MD, MPH, MBA (He/Him).” LinkedIn. Accessed November 21, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinberk/details/experience/.