In this episode, our host Susan Li speaks with Nicholas Shapiro of Carceral Ecologies lab, a collective of multidisciplinary researchers that document violence within carceral systems, advance practices of accountability, and support community self-determination.

Shapiro directs the Carceral Ecologies lab, advancing research at the intersection of environment, health, and mass incarceration. As a specialist in community-centered methodology, he is also the Director of Research of the UCLA-CDU Dana Center for Neuroscience and Society. His first book, Homesick (Duke, 2025), asks how the homes became a primary site for toxic exposure and how we can collectively struggle for cleaner indoor air.