PROJECT ABSTRACT Formerly incarcerated people are highly vulnerable to drug overdose and suicide deaths upon release from incarceration, yet there are few interventions to address these concerns. Existing programs in the criminal legal system, such as post-release supervision (PRS), can be improved to help acclimate individuals to life back in the community. While PRS helps individuals reintegrate into the community, it also significantly increases their risk of reincarceration. Moreover, systematic and individual racism in the criminal legal system has led to overrepresentation of racially minoritized people in prison and among individuals receiving PRS. Augmenting the length of the PRS sentence can allow optimization of PRS’s benefits to harms. My study proposes a way to reduce suicide and overdose mortality risk among the formerly incarcerated by providing evidence-based recommendations to modify existing PRS policies. The objectives of this proposal are to (1) determine and understand predictors of post-release supervision (PRS) assignment length, (2) establish how to optimize NC’s existing PRS program to reduce suicide and overdose mortality among formerly incarcerated people through altering their the PRS assignment length, and (3) identify optimal PRS terms that minimize the difference in risk of suicide and overdose mortality and reincarceration rates between white and racially minoritized groups, without increasing rates for any racialized group. To accomplish these aims, I will apply advanced causal inference methods to a linked dataset containing administrative and death records for all persons released from prison between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2021. The completion of the proposed aims will significantly advance our understanding of interventions aimed at reducing post-release mortality, as well as provide an evidence-base for future PRS policy to reduce racialized disparities in not only PRS sentencing but also post-release suicide and overdose mortality outcomes among formerly incarcerated people. The training plan outlined in this proposal will equip the applicant, Monica Swilley-Martinez, with critical knowledge on the intersection of criminal legal system involvement and racialized health disparities, necessary skills in advanced epidemiologic methods and social and injury epidemiology, and experience with longitudinal analysis using large population-based administrative data. This plan will prepare her to successfully complete the proposed aims and to progress into a role as an independent, interdisciplinary epidemiologist working at the intersection of criminal legal system involvement and racialized disparities in the US. The applicant is incredibly well supported by an interdisciplinary group of epidemiologists and health disparities researchers, with the requisite expertise to support her doctoral research and prepare her for the next phase of her career.