Scholars@Duke
Zaire Cullins

Selected Publications

“You feel like you going to die:” The intersection of mass incarceration and climate disasters

Journal Article Ssm Qualitative Research in Health · December 1, 2025 Purpose: Incarceration is increasingly harmful for health due to climate hazards and the lack of policies to protect people who are incarcerated from flooding, hurricanes, and extreme temperatures. Yet, these overlapping crises have received limited attent ... Full text Cite

The use of solitary confinement and in-custody mortality in North Carolina State Prisons, 2021-2023.

Journal Article SSM Popul Health · December 2025 PURPOSE: Solitary confinement is associated with increased mortality post-release. Little is known about its use following recent reforms and COVID-19 challenges, and its association with in-custody deaths. We investigated patterns of and associations betw ... Full text Link to item Cite

A legal quagmire: the need for a public health approach to the competency crisis

Journal Article Health and Justice · December 1, 2025 Competency to stand trial is a legal construct in the United States whereby an individual’s capacity to meaningfully and knowingly function in a legal proceeding, typically for those with mental or developmental disabilities or dementia, is questioned. The ... Full text Cite

Staff perspectives on using long-acting antiretroviral treatment among persons being released from carceral settings in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Journal Article AIDS Care · November 2025 The prevalence of HIV among individuals who experience incarceration is estimated to be three times higher than that of the general population in the United States. Currently, the standard of care, antiretroviral medications taken daily, is effective in re ... Full text Link to item Cite

Implementation of Non-Armed First Responder Programs; Optimization by Centering Program Perspectives.

Journal Article Behav Med · September 16, 2025 Factors such as structural racism and disinvestment in community mental health and social services have resulted in harmful interactions between law enforcement and individuals experiencing mental health crises. These harms are even more prevalent among ra ... Full text Link to item Cite

Experiences Accessing Health and Social Services during and after Natural Disasters among People Who Use Drugs in Houston, Texas.

Journal Article Int J Environ Res Public Health · September 3, 2024 People who use drugs (PWUD) disproportionately experience health-related and social vulnerabilities, which may affect service needs and access during and after natural disasters. We conducted qualitative interviews with N = 18 PWUD recruited via a syringe ... Full text Link to item Cite

"Nothing but a rope to hang yourself:" The toll of mass supervision on mental well-being.

Journal Article SSM Ment Health · December 15, 2023 While incarceration has proven detrimental to mental well-being, it remains unknown if community supervision is better for mental well-being than incarceration. Our objective was to explore the individual- and community-level relationships between communit ... Full text Link to item Cite

The current state of Carceral health data: an analysis of "Listening Sessions" with stakeholders.

Journal Article Health Justice · September 28, 2023 BACKGROUND: Understanding the health conditions of those under carceral control is often made difficult due to lack of access to data. Yet, as has been made clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, is that data is essential to understand the scope of disease an ... Full text Link to item Cite