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One of the co-founders and current director, Dr. Josiah Rich, began the foundation after realizing the possibilities of treating patients with difficult, life-long diseases in a closed environment. After receiving a 5-year grant in 2002, and inspiration from a recurring patient named Charles Long, Rich began providing basic health care to prisoners in Rhode Island-- specifically focusing on addiction treatments. The foundation began when Dr. Rich and colleague Scott Allen, MD, turned results from this grant into a full-fledged advocacy center. They built on the long-standing tradition of Brown's Warren Alpert Medical School to work in Rhode Island correctional facilities; the inmate population provided an ample source for teaching young physicians, as well as large population well-suited for long-term research studies. While it began as an 5-year study into addiction and incarceration, the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, based in Miriam, has substance abuse rehabilitation clinics, treats HIV/AIDs patients, and studies/treats lifelong infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. 

The system allows for compilation and continued monitoring of the aftermath of these hurricanes. The platform also provides access to the film and organization following those still effected by the disasters years later. It also serves as an area for conversation and discussion for how to mitigate the effects of disasters in the future.