Panel Discussion: The Incarceration System, A Public Health Crisis

Lani Graham, MD, MPH Related Seminars and Products

Lani Graham is a Family Practice physician with a master’s degree in public health. She is a Maine native with a long history of interest in health care services for the medically underserved. This has included a year of providing care within the Massachusetts prison system. In Maine, she has served as the Director of the Maine Bureau of Health and Maine’s Chief Public Health Officer. Dr. Graham also served as Medical Director of Public Health Emergency Preparedness at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Until 2017, Dr. Graham was Director of the Medical Professionals Health Program, a program that serves medical professionals with mental health or substance-use disorders. Dr. Graham is now retired but continues to work on a variety of medical and public health issues as a volunteer. Each year since her formal retirement, she has testified in the legislature on behalf of the Maine Medical Association or the Maine Public Health Association. In 2024, her ongoing work has been focused on health care reform, firearms safety, criminal justice, and a ban on flavored tobacco products.

Lani Graham, MD, MPH, has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement, or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, reselling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Jan Collins, MEd Related Seminars and Products

A retired High School Science teacher and blueberry farmer, Jan became involved with criminal justice reform when her son was incarcerated in 2012. Since then, she has served on the Board of Visitors for Franklin County Jail, acts as Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition's liaison with the prison branch of the NAACP, and regularly testifies before the legislature on issues related to criminal justice reform.

Jan Collins, MEd, has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement, or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, reselling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.

Zachary Swain Related Seminars and Products

I grew up in Maine in Cape Elizabeth. I have always had difficulties with my Mental Health and fitting in with others. When I was quite young my mother had me evaluated for behavioral illnesses. I was diagnosed with several different mental health disorders and placed on different medications. Unfortunately going through middle school and high school I was up and down. This eventually resulted in self-medicating with drugs and alcohol and subsequent encounters with the judicial system and eventually incarceration. I spent some time in Long Creek and County jail by age 18. Shortly after my release from County Jail I got into an altercation with some other teenagers over marijuana when I was still 18 and in high school. I was sentenced to seven years in prison. I was under treatment with a psychiatrist but my medication regimen was still being adjusted. I was separated from my treating physician and told that I would be evaluated in due time. Multiple problems resulted. In the end I spent most of my seven-year sentence in solitary confinement. I tried to commit suicide on a few occasions. It was truly terrible. But thanks to the help of my parents, my lawyers, the press and my friends, I was finally released in February of 2022. I am now successfully engaged in treatment for my disabilities and live in South Portland where I am raising my young son. I am still adjusting to life outside the prison, but I am very grateful to be alive and to have a chance at a better life.

Alexsea Cholewa Related Seminars and Products

Alexsea Cholewa from Aroostook County. I reside at Southern Maine Reentry Center in Windham Maine. I have been incarcerated for two years and ten months I will reenter back to my hometown at the end of this year. I have achieved many milestones and overcome barriers that arose in my journey as an incarcerated individual. Currently I am a Pre Med student at University of Maine at Augusta. I am fortunate enough to participate in several groups in addition to being a student. My interests revolve around people in substance use recovery, prisoner advocacy, and legislative planning. I am a facilitator with Maine Humanities Council, volunteer with Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, and am a facilitator for Colby College’s Freedom and Captivity program.   I have taken and completed a welding course with a view to having a skill to market as I am aware that I will need a means of earning a living when I finish my sentence.

Alexsea Cholewa has no actual or potential conflict of interest, financial relationship/arrangement, or affiliation with any entity producing, marketing, reselling, or distributing health care goods or services consumed by, or used on, patients.