Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2012 Apr:33:325-39.
doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031811-124614. Epub 2012 Jan 3.

Public health and the epidemic of incarceration

Dora M Dumont  1 , Brad Brockmann, Samuel Dickman, Nicole Alexander, Josiah D Rich
Affiliations
Review

Public health and the epidemic of incarceration

Dora M Dumont et al. Annu Rev Public Health. 2012 Apr.

Abstract

An unprecedented number of Americans have been incarcerated in the past generation. In addition, arrests are concentrated in low-income, predominantly nonwhite communities where people are more likely to be medically underserved. As a result, rates of physical and mental illnesses are far higher among prison and jail inmates than among the general public. We review the health profiles of the incarcerated; health care in correctional facilities; and incarceration's repercussions for public health in the communities to which inmates return upon release. The review concludes with recommendations that public health and medical practitioners capitalize on the public health opportunities provided by correctional settings to reach medically underserved communities, while simultaneously advocating for fundamental system change to reduce unnecessary incarceration.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Incarceration trends in the United States, 1925–2008.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Arrest rates for drug offenses by race, 1980–2006. Source: Human Rights Watch, http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/us0309web_1.pdf.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alexander M. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. New York: New Press; 2010.
    1. Allen SA, Spaulding AC, Osei AM, Taylor LE, Cabral AM, Rich JD. Treatment of chronic hepatitis C in a state correctional facility. Ann Intern Med. 2003;138:187–90. - PubMed
    1. Altice FL, Kamarulzaman A, Soriano VV, Schechter M, Friedland GH. Treatment of medical, psychiatric, and substance-use comorbidities in people infected with HIV who use drugs. Lancet. 2010;376:367–87. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Applebaum PS. Lost in the crowd: prison mental health care, overcrowding, and the courts. Psychiatr Serv. 2011;62:1121–23. - PubMed
    1. Baillargeon J, Binswanger IA, Penn JV, Williams BA, Murray OJ. Psychiatric disorders and repeat incarcerations: the revolving prison door. Am J Psychiatry. 2009;166:103–9. - PubMed

Publication types