Clean air. Safe water. Relief from extreme heat. People in prisons and jails can't simply walk away when those are missing.

A Boston University researcher who spent the summer in Chelsea is working on that problem.

Zanyah Williams, a doctoral student in environmental health at BU's School of Public Health, spent the summer of 2026 at Roca, the Chelsea nonprofit. While there, she worked on a social venture focused on environmental dangers inside prisons and jails, BU's School of Public Health reported.

What Roca does

Roca describes itself as a violence intervention and behavioral health program. It works with young adults ages 16 to 24 who have experienced complex trauma and are at high risk of violence.

The organization runs an intensive four-year program that addresses trauma and teaches cognitive-behavioral skills. It also works with police and other public systems that affect young people. Its listed address is 101 Park St. in Chelsea, and it has sites in Massachusetts, Baltimore and Connecticut.

Her research

Williams studies incarceration as a form of environmental injustice. People in prisons and jails can't leave a building with dangerous air, water or heat, according to a profile from Innovate@BU.

The profile notes that many prisons sit near Superfund sites and factories. People inside can't fix a broken cooling system or avoid contaminated water.

"All people, regardless of their positionality, deserve basic human rights," Williams said. "Those conditions should be non-negotiable, even within carceral systems," she told the School of Public Health.

Her doctoral work looks at how systems of oppression and a person's position in society shape their exposure to environmental hazards. Her advisor is Kevin Lane, an associate professor of environmental health.

What she heard at Roca

Williams' research was partly shaped by what young people and staff at Roca told her, the profile says.

One young participant described eating chips to make saliva so he could drink, because the water was so dirty.

"It's experiences like those that are completely uncalled for and completely unjust," Williams said.

A fellowship to build it

Williams was part of Innovate@BU's 2026 Enlight Fellowship, a 10-week summer program that came with a $10,000 award. Her training is in research and policy, not building ventures, the profile notes.

"It's not so much about the idea, but more so how do you implement this idea," she said.

She also sees it as a way to keep her research grounded. "I see this fellowship as a way to ensure that my dissertation is informed by community priorities," Williams said.

What to watch

Both accounts of Williams' work come from Boston University. The profiles don't name her venture or say what comes next for it. Roca hasn't commented publicly on the project.