Second-year law student Elayna Chambers became aware of the issues with prison dental care as she spoke over the phone with women incarcerated in Shakopee as part of her work at a University of St. Thomas Law clinic.
Chambers recalled one woman telling her, “Don’t have anything wrong with your teeth (in prison). They’ll probably just end up pulling it out anyway.”
Through conversations once or twice a week this semester as part of the Community Justice Project law clinic, Chambers learned more about challenges the women faced in prison. Chambers and her classmates also worked on promoting the Survivors Justice Act, in partnership with Violence Free Minnesota, a coalition of organizations focused on ending relationship abuse in the state. The legislation, which has not been passed in Minnesota, would allow judges to grant shorter sentences in cases where defendants are abuse survivors.
“What this bill would do is give judges the flexibility to impose those sentences that are more within what justice demands than what the strict interpretation of the law and a mandatory minimum might suggest,” said Jess Palyan, policy program manager at Violence Free Minnesota.
The Survivors Justice Act, added Palyan, is just one step in abuse prevention.
“We need to make sure that the people we’re putting in (prison) are treated like human beings, so that when they come out, they are prepared to treat everybody like human beings,” Palyan said.
Though the Minnesota Department of Corrections contracts out various aspects of health care, from physical and mental health to eye health, Chambers found that the state has no contractor for prison dental care. Instead, Chambers said, the department “just (has) dentists on staff at each prison. As we all know, Minnesota prisons and just prisons generally are under-sourced, under-resourced, understaffed, and I think that’s where these issues come in.”
While dental care is often treated separately from general health in a medical setting, poor dental health can impact or indicate poor mental and physical wellbeing.
“From the research I’ve been doing and speaking to the women or (with) my friends at the (University of) Minnesota School of Dentistry, dental care seems like a precursor to the rest of your overall health,” Chambers said. “If something’s not going well in there, it can affect the whole rest of your body, (along with) self-esteem issues and mental health issues and the whole process of reintegration after people are eventually released from prison. The long-term effects of dental care long outlast the length of an average prison sentence.”
In response to her research, Chambers began developing the concept of the Boundless Dental Bus – a mobile clinic bus that would take dental students around the state to care for those currently incarcerated. Students at the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry, Chambers said, are already required to participate in comprehensive care clinics which “serve lower-income communities at a much lower cost than private practice dentistry.”
“Boundless Dental Bus would aim to fill that need for a contract with the Minnesota Department of Corrections, just to make sure (dental care is) more uniform and regulated throughout,” she added.
Chambers entered her business plan for the bus into the University of St. Thomas’ Fowler Business Concept Challenge. The bus concept placed third overall, earning Chambers $4,000 in scholarships. The Boundless Dental Bus plan was also awarded the Health Equity Champion Award, which won Chambers another $2,500 in scholarships. Chambers received the awards in November.
“(With) Elayna’s specific dental bus recommendation, you see somebody who is trying to come up with really good solutions to just try to make sure that this sense of normalcy and care (is) being provided to people who, in a lot of ways, we don’t care about (and who) in a lot of ways we kind of leave behind,” said Palyan, who, in addition to working with Elayna and two other students in the Community Justice Project law clinic, is an alum of the clinic himself.
“Looking at ways to try to make sure those people feel more human, make sure that they feel more cared for is just phenomenal.”
Though the competition is over, Chambers is prepared to take steps to make her vision a reality. Over winter break after her finals, Chambers plans to meet with Billy Mzenga, director of the Institute for Social Innovation at St. Thomas’ Opus College of Business, to discuss next steps for the Boundless Dental Bus.
While Mzenga was not involved in the judging process for the concept challenge, he called it “an amazing idea” and would like to help her brainstorm what might come next, from networking strategically to fundraising for a pilot program at a single prison. Mzenga, who is a member of the board of All Square, a nonprofit that supports those currently and formerly incarcerated, added that Chambers’ concept resonated with him.
The next step for Chambers, Mzenga said, is “getting in front of the people who have (an) understanding of how the Department of Corrections works (and) have a robust understanding of how students in the school of dentistry get internships.”
Chambers also sees the value in learning from others.
“This was all very preliminary and basic research and business planning. I would like to speak to more people who know a lot more about the stuff than I do to see how (the Boundless Dental Bus) could become, hopefully, a reality in some way, shape, or form.”
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