The SIMD workshop will take place from 10am-11:30am in UCENT 580A, and occur weekly for 1.5 hours, unless otherwise specified below. Unless otherwise noted, all workshops are held both in-person and over zoom.
Zoom link is: https://asu.zoom.us/j/5795775628
Spring Semester Dates:
January 23rd, 2026: Dr. Betty Aldana Marquez, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Connecticut. "Performing Regulation, Practicing Harm: ICE Detention Inspections During COVID-19."
Abstract: This paper examines how the Nakamoto group—the private organization formerly responsible for conducting annual inspections of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers—repeatedly obscured noncompliance and silenced detainee experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, reinforcing ICE’s broader organizational failures. Through examining 204 Nakamoto inspection reports conducted across 87 of the largest ICE-affiliated detention facilities between 2020 to 2021, we find that approximately 87 percent of inspections were performed remotely or through a hybrid format and produced heavily oversimplified assessments that minimized or omitted evidence of unsafe practices. This enabled an overwhelming number of facilities with documented histories of misconduct to pass inspections without meaningful intervention, as illustrated through specific case studies outlined in the paper. These reports reveal a failure to identify or act on urgent health and safety concerns, and a concerted effort to distort the lived experiences of immigrants in ICE custody, shape official government narratives, and obscure structural harm. We argue that Nakamoto’s inspection practices are exemplified through three interrelated practices: performative regulation, controlling narratives around detention conditions, and prioritizing corporate interests at the expense of detainee safety. Ultimately, our case study reveals how privatized inspection systems function not as independent mechanisms of accountability but as extension of ICE’s authority, sustaining and reifying organizational failure within the American deportation apparatus.
February 13th, 2026: Dr. Tiffany Lemon, College of Health Solutions, ASU. "From Jail Release to Post-Incarceration Support: Designing and Rapidly Evaluating an AI Tool for Reentry."
Abstract: People leaving jail face an immediate, high-stakes decision environment marked by fragmented services, time pressure, and limited support. This session introduces ResetGPT, a GPT-based reentry support tool designed to provide plain-language, trauma-informed service navigation at the point of release. We will walk through the methodological choices behind the project, including persona-based design, prompt engineering, and a rapid evaluation framework tailored for early-stage interventions. Drawing on findings from a rapid evaluation, I will highlight what worked, where the tool struggled, and how evaluation metrics such as actionability, readability, and role adherence informed iterative refinement. The session will conclude with a short interactive activity, inviting participants to critique AI outputs and reflect on implications for criminological research and practice.
February, 27th, 2026: Dr. Erin Eife, Assistant Professor of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, "The Carceral State Beyond Bars: Pretrial Surveillance as a Structural Determinant of Health".
Abstract: The expanding reach of the carceral state has led to a rise in surveillance-based reforms marketed as humane alternatives to incarceration. Electronic monitoring (EM), an increasingly common condition of pretrial release, is often portrayed as a non-punitive solution to mass incarceration. Drawing on 40 in-depth interviews with individuals on pretrial EM in Cook County, Illinois—home to one of the largest and most restrictive EM programs in the U.S.—this paper critically examines the health harms EM imposes on legally innocent people. We identify three mechanisms through which EM operates as a structural determinant of health: (1) persistent psychological distress caused by constant surveillance and legal uncertainty, (2) restricted access to medical care due to stringent movement controls, and (3) the use of emergency healthcare as a coercive and surveillance-laden last resort. Rather than shrinking the carceral state, EM spatially redistributes its harms and embeds carceral control within homes and bodies. We conclude by advancing abolitionist public health frameworks and outlining non-carceral alternatives that center dignity, autonomy, care, and community-based support.
Qualitative Speakers:
Dr. Marina Zaloznaya
Dr. Betty Aldana Marquez
Dr. Erin Eife
Quantitative Speakers:
Dr. Lee Slocum
Dr. Jacob Young
Dr. TIffany Lemon
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Fall Semester Dates:
October 17th, Dr. Lee Slocum, Professor, University of Missouri, St. Louis. Topic: Group Concept Mapping
October 24th, 2025: Dr. Marina Zaloznaya, SCCJ. "Developing Theoretical Concepts from Qualitative Data: The Case of Sanctioned Oligarchs". TIME CHANGE: 9-10:30am ROOM CHANGE: UCENT 620A