Melissa Barragan

BA, Sociology - UCLA

MA, Sociology & Education - Teachers College, Columbia University

PhD, Criminology, Law & Society  - UC Irvine

Incarceration 

Solitary Confinement

Re-Entry Education

Policing

Gun Violence

Community-Based Interventions

Qualitative Methods

CRM 3325 - Mass Incarceration 

CRM 3330 - Restorative Justice 

CRM 3350 - Criminological Theory 

CRM 3390 - Media & Crime

CRM 4611 - Senior Symposium - Gang & Gun Violence

Reiter, K., Augustine, D., Strong, J.D., Barragan, M., Gonzalez, G., & Pifer, N. (2025). An autopsy of conceptualizing health in solitary confinement: Diagnosing knowledge production in solitary confinement. In B. Dolan & J. McMullin (Eds.), The Legal Determinants of Health: From Incarceration to Accessibility (pp.45-77). University of California Health Humanities Press.

Reiter, K., Augustine, D., Barragan, M., Gonzalez, G., Pifer, N., Strong, J., & Tublitz, R. (2025). Against optimization: Solitary confinement and the research policy nexus. Journal of Criminal Justice 99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2025.102470

Tublitz, R., Reiter, K., Augustine, D., Barragan, M., Chesnut, K., Gonzalez, G., Pifer, N., & Strong, J. (2025). Getting boxed in: How race and gang labeling shape solitary confinement use. Punishment & Society 27(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/14624745251344573

Augustine, D., Pifer, N.A., Tublitz, R., Gonzalez, G., Strong, J., Barragan, M., Reiter, K., & Chesnut, K. (2025). Unexceptional patterns of solitary confinement: Cycling and re-entry shocks within prison. British Journal of Criminology. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azaf071

Barragan, M., Augustine, D., Gonzalez, G., & Reiter, K. (2023). Deconstructing the Power Dynamic of Prison Research. The Prison Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/00328855231208011

Barragan, M., Escobar, M.D., Gonzalez, L., & Terriquez, P. (2023). Radically rethinking equity in higher education: Lessons from Project Rebound. About Campus. https://doi.org/10.1177/1086482223118208

Barragan, M. (2021). Policing and punishing illegal gun behavior: An examination of jail detainee experiences with gun law enforcement in Los Angeles. Social Problems. https://doi.org/10.1093/socpro/spab025

Augustine, D., Barragan, M., Chesnut, K., Pifer, N.A., Reiter, K., & Strong, J.D. (2021). Window dressing: Possibilities and limitations of incremental changes in solitary confinement. Health & Justice, 9(21). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40352-021-00145-7 

Reiter, K., Chesnut, K., Gonzalez, G., Strong, J., Tublitz, R., Augusting, D., Barragan, M., Dashtgard, P., & Pifer, N. (2021). Reducing Restrictive Housing Use in Washington State: Results from the 2016-2020 Study “Understanding and Replicating Washington State’s Segregation Reduction Programs,” Contract NO. K11273.  https://www.doc.wa.gov/corrections/incarceration/docs/restrictive-housing-university-california-irvine-report.pdf 

Reiter, K., Augustine, D., Barragan, M., Chesnut, K., Gonzalez, G., Pifer, N., & Strong, J.(2020). Reflections on team research in carceral settings. In J. Schossler (Ed.), Prison Stories: Women Scholars’ Experiences Doing Research Behind Bars (pp. 13-34). Lexington Books.

Strong, J.D., Reiter, K., Gonzalez, G., Tublitz, R., Augustine, D., Barragan, M., Chesnut, K.,Dashtgard, P., Pifer, N., & Blair, T.R. (2020). The body in isolation: The physical health impacts of incarceration in solitary confinement. PLoS ONE, 15(10), e0238510. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0238510

Reiter, K., Ventura, J., Lovell, D., Augustine, D., Barragan, M., Blair, T., Chesnut, K., Dashtgard, P., Gonzalez, G., Pifer, N., and Strong, J. (2020). Psychological distress in solitary confinement: Symptoms, severity, and prevalence in the United States, 2017-2018. American Journal of Public Health, 110(1), S56-S62. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305375

Matthay, E.C., Farkas, K., Rudolph, K.E., Zimmerman, S., Barragan, M., Goin, D.E., & Ahern, J. (2019). Association of the Operation Peacemaker Fellowship in Richmond, CA with population-level firearm and non-firearm homicide and assault: A quasi-experimental study. American Journal of Public Health, 109(1), 1605-1611. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2019.305288

Tita, G., & Barragan, M. (2019). Understanding the illicit gun market in Los Angeles: A review of the empirical evidence. In J. Carlson, K.Goss, & H. Shapira (Eds.), Guns: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Politics, Policy, and Practice (pp. 75-94). Routledge.

Barragan, M., Chesnut, K., Gravel, J., Pifer, N., Reiter, K., Sherman, N., & Tita, G. (2017). Prohibited possessors and the law: How inmates in Los Angeles jails understand firearm and ammunition regulations. Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 3(5), 141-163. https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/10.7758/rsf.2017.3.5.07.pdf

Chesnut, K., Barragan, M., Gravel, J., Pifer, N., Reiter, K., Sherman, N., & Tita. G.E. (2016). Not an “iron pipeline,” but many capillaries: Regulating passive gun transactions in Los Angeles’ secondary, illegal gun market. Injury Prevention 23(4), 226-231. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2016-042088

Barragan, M., Sherman, N., Reiter, K., & Tita, G. (2016). “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t”: Perceptions of guns, safety, and legitimacy among detained gun offenders. Criminal Justice and Behavior 43(1), 140-155. https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854815611707