Literature in Brief

Abstract

Stuckler D, Basu S, McKee M, King L. Mass incarceration can explain population increases in TB and multidrug-resistant TB in European and central Asian countries. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2008; 105(36):13280–5. Thomas JC, Torrone E. Incarceration as Forced Migration: Effects on Selected Community Health Outcomes. Prisons and Health. 2008; 98(9 Suppl): S181–4. These two articles both describe detrimental effects of increasing incarceration rates on population health. The Stuckler article evaluated the effect of increasing rates of incarceration on tuberculosis (TB) in Eastern European and Central Asian countries. They found that each percentage rise in the sentencing rate was associated with a 0.34% increase in TB incidence. The sentencing rates rose 60% from 1991 to 2002 in the countries surveyed. The net effect of this increase, after controlling for multiple variables, was a 20% rise in TB incidence, which accounted for three-fifths of the total 35% increase in TB incidence during that time frame. The authors conclude that more than the absolute number of prisoners, the rate of prison growth is the largest determinant of TB infection. The Thomas article examined the correlation between rates of incarceration and rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and teen pregnancies in North Carolina from 1995 to 2002. They found that even after controlling for age, race, and poverty, STDs and teen pregnancies consistently increased with rising incarceration rates. Most notably, a county with a prison population rate in the 75th percentile had a 32% increase in teen pregnancies when compared to a county with a prison population rate in the 25th percentile. The authors argue that high rates of incarceration destabilize communities. With men ten times as likely to be imprisoned, incarceration lowers the ratio of men to women which has been shown to increase rates of teen pregnancy, syphilis, and gonorrhea in other studies.