Disproportionate Incarceration Research Articles

Slow violence and the coloniality of carceral foodways in Canadian federal prisons

The disproportionate incarceration of Indigenous peoples continues to be a disturbing trend in Canada, prompting calls to problematize prison as a modern manifestation of settler-colonialism. To address this call, we explore the disconcerting similarities between historical accounts of food insecurity endured by Indigenous children in residential schools and our participants’ shocking food experiences in Canadian federal prisons. Using qualitative data from 57 semi-structured interviews with formerly incarcerated people, we compare participants’ experiences of poor-quality food, chronic hunger, and malnutrition to those of students in residential schools, problematizing the inadequate food provision in Canadian prisons in the present despite government assurances that prison food meets national nutritional guidelines. Ultimately, we contend that settler-colonialism continues to be weaponized against Indigenous people in prison – and incarcerated people, generally – through the slow violence of carceral food provision, perpetuating inequitable health outcomes for communities historically pushed to the margins of Canadian society.

“They don't trust me”: Service providers reflections of father‐centric treatment and engagement

AbstractObjectiveThis study sought to illuminate the barriers service providers experience in delivering healing services to enhance father and child well‐being.BackgroundManifestations of structural barriers, such as racism, mother‐centric practices, and disproportionate incarceration among Black and Brown fathers prevail. Little is known, however, about how providers describe barriers they encounter toward engaging fathers in services to equip them with the capacity to coparent effectively.MethodA convenience sample of providers (n = 24) representing a diverse array of child and family service systems responded to questions from a semistructured interview guide. Thematic analyses were conducted to describe how providers engage with fathers and their perceptions of barriers related to their ability to engage them in services.ResultsFindings revealed three types of barriers, each representing a separate theme: micro (biases, colorblindness), societal (devaluation of fathers' role), and systemic (racism, mother‐centrism). Strategies to address barriers included implementing strengths‐based practices, creating spaces to engage in reflexivity, and investing in father‐centric programming. Most strategies involved modifying the micro context, conveying that future efforts should focus on developing procedures and policies that will enhance micro practices.ConclusionThis study captured the experiences of change agents and healers working with fathers and families. Their experiences illuminate obstacles they must contend with at the micro, societal, and systemic levels of practice.ImplicationsProviders indicated that fathers will not benefit from services unless organizations embrace father‐centric, strength‐based healing practices and allocate space to engage in reflexivity about biases and the impact of systemic racism.

Clusters of Jail Incarcerations in U.S. Counties: 2010–2018

This study investigates the spatiotemporal variations in jail incarcerations in addition to associations with several risk factors and jail incarceration counts at the county level for the period 2010–2018 in the contiguous USA. The disease surveillance software SaTScanTM was used to identify and test purely spatial and spatiotemporal variations in jail incarceration. Significant spatial and space-time clusters with elevated relative risk for jail incarceration were found in analysis. Additionally, a negative binomial regression model was used to predict jail incarcerations counts based on several covariates and found significant and nonrandom spatial clusters of jail incarceration that are explained after adjusting for these covariates. The results in this study provide useful information on possible associations in geographical areas where jail incarceration rates are higher than expected and demonstrate significant correlations between jail incarceration counts and several covariates. The study and its conclusions provide an epidemiological framework for identifying and addressing geographic patterns of unusually high jail incarceration rates in the United States and provide evidence of appropriate locations to further investigate underlying causes of disproportionate incarceration. Supplementary files for this article are available online.

Abstract P519: Sleep as a Cardiometabolic Risk Factor Following Release From Carceral Facilities

Background: Approximately 2 million people are incarcerated, and 11 million cycle in and out of U.S. jails and prisons annually. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality are higher among people with a history of incarceration, especially in the weeks following release from prison. Sleep is an underexplored factor that may contribute to CVD disparities among people with a history of incarceration. Population-specific risk factors in the social and physical environment may contribute to poor sleep and CVD risk during imprisonment and after release from a carceral facility. Methods: The Sleep Justice study, an ancillary study to an ongoing prospective cohort recruiting individuals with known cardiovascular risk factors within three months of release from incarceration, the Justice-Involved Individuals Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology (JUSTICE) study, aimed to describe sleep and examine the connections between sleep and CVD risk factor control among people released from a carceral facility. Sleep was assessed using subjective and objective measures. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the STOP-Bang, and the Brief Index of Sleep Control were used, and wrist-worn actigraphy was used to measure sleep objectively in a subsample of 80 participants. We will examine sleep and its association with CVD in this sample of people recently released from a carceral facility. Results: Most participants were male (92%), non-Hispanic Black (51%) or Hispanic (27%), were incarcerated 2-5 times, and were living in transitional housing (78%) at baseline. All participants had a CVD risk factor as a requirement of the study inclusion criteria: hypertension (78%), hyperlipidemia (47%), obesity (59%), diabetes (29%), and history of CVD (19%). Most reported low (24%) or some control (35%) over their sleep. Participants were at increased risk for sleep apnea, with 47% at moderate risk and 23% at high risk. Most participants reported poor sleep quality (65%) on the PSQI. We conducted logistic regression examining the relationship between sleep and CVD risk and found that poor sleep quality was associated with HTN (p=0.02), even after adjusting for age, race and ethnicity, and gender (AOR 2.44, 95% CI 1.14-5.29). Discussion: Given the disproportionate incarceration of racial and ethnic minoritized groups, the impact of incarceration on sleep health and CVD are areas that urgently need to be examined. This study is the first to examine sleep after release from a carceral facility and highlights the need for interventions targeting sleep health and CVD in this population.

How Do Persons Found NCRMD and Identified as Indigenous Differ from Other Persons Found NCRMD: Profiles, Trajectories, and Outcomes

Indigenous individuals are vastly over-represented among people incarcerated in Canada. We collected extensive clinical information and outcome data from Review Board (RB) files and obtained lifetime criminal records for 1800 individuals found Not Criminally Responsible on Account of Mental Disorder (NCRMD) in BC (n = 222), ON (n = 484), and QC (n = 1094). Indigenous and non-Indigenous people were compared on (a) socio-demographic, clinical, and criminal histories; (b) index offenses; (c) processing by the RB; and (d) recidivism. Compared to published rates of the disproportionate incarceration of Indigenous people in prisons in Canada (30%), just 3.9% of people in custody with an NCRMD finding were identified as Indigenous. Compared to non-Indigenous people, Indigenous people had higher rates of substance use disorders, personality disorders, and lower rates of mood disorders at verdict and came from low population density neighborhoods but high population density homes. Indigenous individuals were detained in custody longer and remained under supervision longer than non-Indigenous individuals but recidivated at similar rates. Criminal histories, mental health characteristics, and index offenses of Indigenous people found NCRMD were similar to non-Indigenous people found NCRMD. Further research is required to determine if seriously mentally ill Indigenous people who come into contact with the justice system are considered for the NCRMD defense similarly to non-Indigenous people and to explore why Indigenous individuals receive more restrictive dispositions, yet time to reoffending is similar.

Vulnerable yet Unprotected: The Hidden Curriculum of the Care of the Incarcerated Patient.

Vulnerable yet Unprotected: The Hidden Curriculum of the Care of the Incarcerated Patient.

Educational Opportunity and the Carceral System: Sentencing Policies and Black Men's College Enrollment

This paper explores whether the Federal Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, which increased the disproportionate incarceration of young Black men, was also associated with changes in the likelihood of college enrollment for Black men in states with more punitive sentencing laws. I measure the association between the introduction of state sentencing laws, such as truth-in-sentencing (TIS), and college enrollment. These laws could have decreased the likelihood of Black male college enrollment by removing these men from the population in the years in which they would have attended college. To explore the impact of the passage of sentencing laws on college enrollment, I carry out a differences-in-differences analysis and an event study from 1992 to 2000. In the years after TIS passed, significant decreases occurred in the likelihood of college enrollment for Black young men when compared to the college enrollment of young White men in TIS states. However, there were no significant decreases when comparing college enrollment of young Black men in TIS states with enrollment for young Black men in non-TIS states. With respect to state sentencing schemes, voluntary guidelines, determinate sentences, presumptive recommended sentences, presumptive determinate sentences, and recommended determinate sentences were associated with a lower likelihood of college enrollment for Black men.

The Health and Well-Being of African-American Older Adults With a History of Incarceration

African-Americans are overrepresented in the criminal justice system. Longer prison stays and release programs for older prisoners may result in an increased number of community-dwelling older adults with a history of incarceration. In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in research on health-related outcomes for currently incarcerated older adults; however, there has been little inquiry into outcomes for formerly incarcerated African-American older adults following community re-entry. In this study, we used secondary data from the Health and Retirement Study to describe employment, economic, and health-related outcomes in this population. Twelve percent of the 2238 African-Americans in our sample had been previously incarcerated. Those who had been previously incarcerated had higher rates of lung disease, arthritis, back problems, mobility problems, and mental health issues than their counterparts. They also had higher rates of hospitalization and lower use of dental health services. Further, while they did not experience lower employment rates than those with no criminal history, those who had been incarcerated had more physically demanding jobs and reported greater economic strain. Given the disproportionate incarceration rates among African-Americans, the aging of the prison population, and the increase in community re-entry for older prisoners, research that explores factors that impact the health and well-being of formerly incarcerated individuals has broad impact. Future work should focus on addressing the needs of this vulnerable population of African-American older adults.

Immigration and Incarceration in Post-Emancipation British Guiana

This paper focuses on the incarceration of East Indian indentured labourers in colonial British Guiana between 1838 and 1917. Presenting new data on the prison population and the expansion and strategic location of prison infrastructure, it argues that the criminalization of labour through contracts and ordinances led to the disproportionate incarceration of East Indian immigrants in earlier years. It also suggests this was undertaken so as to facilitate labour extraction from immigrants in response to the loss of access to free labour occasioned by the abolition of slavery.

Confronting Structural Racism in the Prevention and Control of Tuberculosis in the United States.

Tuberculosis incidence in the United States is declining, yet projections indicate that we will not eliminate tuberculosis in the 21st century. Incidence rates in regions serving the rural and urban poor, including recent immigrants, are well above the national average. People experiencing incarceration and homelessness represent additional key populations. Better engagement of marginalized populations will not succeed without first addressing the structural racism that fuels continued transmission. Examples include:(1)systematic underfunding of contact tracing in health departments serving regions where Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) live;(2) poor access to affordable care in state governments that refuse to expand insurance coverage to low-income workers through the Affordable Care Act;(3) disproportionate incarceration of BIPOC into crowded prisons with low tuberculosis screening rates; and(4) fear-mongering among immigrants that discourages them from accessing preventive health services. To eliminate tuberculosis, we must first eliminate racist policies that limit essential health services in vulnerable communities.

Did mass incarceration lead to the disproportionate admission of minorities and marginal offenders?

Research SummaryWe examine the effects of mass incarceration on the admission of minority and marginal (i.e., first‐time) offenders to state prisons. Our analyses are based on six waves of data from the Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities from 1973 to 2004. The results suggest that the era of mass incarceration led to increased incarceration of Hispanic offenders relative to White offenders, but not Black offenders relative to White offenders. Disproportional incarceration did occur, however, during some periods. For example, during the early period of mass incarceration, there was a disproportional increase in the admission of Hispanics and marginal offenders. In the late 1980s, during the “War on Drugs,” the likelihood that admissions were Black or Hispanic drug offenders increased, but the likelihood that admissions were marginal offenders did not.Policy ImplicationsOur results provide further evidence of the perils of punitive policies. The tendency to overreact to crime problems sometimes, but not always, leads to the disproportionate incarceration of minority and marginal offenders.

Reimagining Home: Redemption and Resistance in Hawai‘i Women’s Prison Writing

AbstractWomen’s plight in the prison-industrial complex resounds within a disturbing American narrative: the disproportionate incarceration of nonwhites in our prison-industrial gulag. Prisons in H...

A Plea to Apply Principles of Quarantine Ethics to Prisoners and Immigration Detainees During the COVID-19 Crisis

An important topic has been neglected in the discussion of ethical issues related to the current Pandemic: unsafe conditions experienced by those who are incarcerated in state or federal prisons or confined in immigration facilities. I argue that principles of Quarantine Ethics addressing the health and safety of those subject to involuntary quarantine should be applied to mitigate the risk that COVID-19 poses to inmates and detainees. These individuals are presumed to have been lawfully detained, thereby excluding the question of the necessity and validity of an order requiring the compulsory quarantine as would apply to an ordinary citizen. However, human rights law remains applicable notwithstanding their status as inmates or undocumented immigrants. Accordingly, these individuals are entitled to safe conditions of confinement to reduce the high risk of their exposure to infectious disease. Judicial caselaw addressing these facilities’ obligations to provide medical care is insufficient. I offer recommendations for improving conditions of confinement based on recognition that neither penal nor immigration policies are furthered by unreasonable risk of exposure to the virus. The disproportionate incarceration of people of color makes the topic yet more urgent.

The strain of sons' incarceration on mothers' health.

Research on disadvantage across generations typically focuses on the resources that parents pass on to their children. Yet, social disadvantage might also result from the transmission of adverse experiences from children to their parents. This paper explores one such adverse experience by examining the influence of a son's incarceration on his mother's health. Using panel data from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and its young adult follow up (n=2651 mothers; 18,390 observations), the paper shows that mothers are more likely to suffer health limitations after a son is incarcerated. A time-distributed fixed effects analysis indicates that the effect on maternal health may persist or even grow over time. Rather than a short-term shock whose effect soon diminishes, a son's incarceration is a long-term strain on mothers' health. The disproportionate incarceration of young men in disadvantaged communities is thus likely to contribute to cumulative adversity among mothers already at risk of severe hardship. More broadly, the results suggest how children's adverse experiences may influence parental well-being, producing further disadvantage across generations.

Improving Health Equity for Women Involved in the Criminal Legal System.

Improving Health Equity for Women Involved in the Criminal Legal System.

The Effect of Marijuana Legalization on Jail Populations in Washington State

In 2012, Washington State legalized the production, sale, and possession of marijuana through Initiative 502. Advocates of legalization argued that it would decrease the jail population and reduce the disproportionate incarceration of minorities, reasoning that the police would refocus their resources on other matters. In order to evaluate this assumption, we examined jail booking data using a set of interrupted time-series regression models. Our findings indicate that jail population trends differ among counties across time and with respect to impacts on minorities and women. With regard to ethnic and racial disproportionate impact, there appears to be little positive change.

Drug prohibition and the criminalization of immigrants: The compounding of drug war disparities in the United States deportation regime

BackgroundWhile recent years have seen moderate progress toward more humanistic drug policy in the United States, the well-documented disproportionate incarceration of Black and Latino Americans continues largely unabated, and non-citizens are still frequently detained and deported based on drug-related crimes and violations. These processes draw from a long history of targeted drug enforcement that has served to scapegoat, punish, and exclude immigrants and native-born racial minorities, culminating in a modern War on Drugs intimately intertwined with processes of immigration and deportation. Drawing on the concept of “crimmigration”—which captures how the intertwining of criminal and immigration policy and enforcement enhances the punitive and exclusionary potential of both systems—this article examines the enduring effects of drug prohibition in the contemporary U.S. immigration and deportation regime. MethodsPrimary data is drawn from my qualitative research on criminal deportation—including a year of ethnographic observation of removal proceedings in New York City immigration court, as well as 39 interviews with immigration lawyers, criminal lawyers, and advocates. These are supplemented by a review of relevant policy, as well as existing research on drug-crime-based deportation. ResultsI argue that drug-related deportation from the United States is a key example of a “crimmigration” connection bolstered by the ongoing societal scapegoating of immigrants for the social problems of drugs and crime. Drug-related deportation, and the immigration court policies and processes that surround it, serve to reproduce and intensify racial and ethnic inequalities inherent to the domestic War on Drugs, while also sending uniquely vulnerable migrants to countries rife with violence attributable to the international apparatuses of that same War. ConclusionFindings suggest a need for concurrent reforms to drug and immigration policy in order to truly mitigate the drastic impacts of the enduring U.S. War on Drugs.

Daughters Inside: Toward a Theory of Structural Sexual Violence Against Girls Through Male Mass Incarceration.

Indigenous women constitute the fastest growing segment of the prison population. Women inside have disproportionately experienced childhood sexual abuse (CSA). A key protective factor against CSA is living with both biological parents. Imprisonment removes fathers from daughters' homes. Yet, the link between male incarceration and girls' risk of CSA remains unexamined. A quantitative exploration of this risk in Aotearoa New Zealand, indicates that the disproportionate incarceration of Māori fathers in the 1980s exposed Māori daughters to a 5.5 times greater CSA risk. A theory of sexual structural violence through male mass incarceration may help explain high CSA victimization rates among Māori girls and incarcerated women, and the sudden increase of young Indigenous women behind bars. More qualitative research is required to verify this empirical exploration.

"You Do Not Think of Me as a Human Being": Race and Gender Inequities Intersect to Discourage Police Reporting of Violence against Women.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence (SV) are drivers of women's morbidity and mortality in urban environments yet remain among the most underreported crimes in the USA. We conducted 26 in-depth interviews with women who experienced past-year IPV or SV, to explore structural and community influences on police contact in Baltimore, MD. Results indicate that gender-based and race-based inequities intersected at the structural and community levels to discourage women from police contact following IPV/SV. Structural influences on police reporting included police discriminatory police misconduct, perceived lack of concern for citizens, power disparities, fear of harm from police, and IPV/SV-related minimization and victim-blaming. Community social norms of police avoidance discouraged police contact, enforced by stringent sanctions. The intersectional lens contextualizes a unique paradox for Black women: the fear of unjust harm to their partners through an overzealous and racially motivated police response and the simultaneous sense of futility in a justice system that may not sufficiently prioritize IPV/SV. This study draws attention to structural race and gender inequities in the urban public safety environment that shape IPV/SV outcomes. Race-based inequity undermines women's safety and access to justice and pits women's safety against community priorities of averting police contact and disproportionate incarceration. A social determinants framework is valuable for understanding access to justice for IPV/SV. Enhancing access to justice for IPV/SV requires overcoming deeply entrenched racial discrimination in the justice sector, and historical minimization of violence against women.

Justice Is Not Blind: Disproportionate Incarceration Rate of People of Color

ABSTRACTUnderstanding both the impact and intersection of race in the criminal justice system is critical to understanding cyclical factors driving the disproportionate minority incarceration rate. Through the Critical Race Theory (CRT) lens, this article examines race and the criminal justice system by reviewing specific aspects of the legal system and its arbitrary application of the system’s significant discretionary power, which is a major influencer in the disparate incarceration rates for people of color.The Sentencing Project reports that racial disparity the criminal justice system exists when the proportion of a racial or ethnic group, within the control of the system, is greater than the proportion of such groups in the general population.