Black Men Survive Longer in Prison

Post Reply New Topic

Some black men may survive longer in prison than out
African-American prisoners protected against alcohol- and drug-related deaths, but pattern doesn't hold for white men, study finds

Black men are half as likely to die at any given time if they're in prison than if they aren't, suggests a new study of North Carolina inmates.

The black prisoners seemed to be especially protected against alcohol- and drug-related deaths, as well as lethal accidents and certain chronic diseases.

But that pattern didn't hold for white men, who on the whole were slightly more likely to die in prison than outside, according to findings published in Annals of Epidemiology.

Researchers say it's not the first time a study has found lower death rates among certain groups of inmates -- particularly disadvantaged people, who might get protection against violent injuries and murder.

"Ironically, prisons are often the only provider of medical care accessible by these underserved and vulnerable Americans," said Hung-En Sung of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

"Typically, prison-based care is more comprehensive than what inmates have received prior to their admission," Sung, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health by email.

The new study involved about 100,000 men between age 20 and 79 who were held in North Carolina prisons at some point between 1995 and 2005. Sixty percent of those men were black.

Researchers linked prison and state health records to determine which of the inmates died, and of what causes, during their prison stay. Then they compared those figures with expected deaths in men of the same age and race in the general population.

Less than one percent of men died during incarceration, and there was no difference between black and white inmates. But outside prison walls, blacks have a higher rate of death at any given age than whites.

theGrio: Do black men really get better health care behind bars?

"What's very sad about this is that if we are able to all of a sudden equalize or diminish these health inequalities that you see by race inside a place like prison, it should also be that in places like a poor neighborhood we should be able to diminish these sort of inequities," said Evelyn Patterson, who studies correctional facilities at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

"If it can be done (in prison), then certainly it can happen outside of prison," Patterson, who wasn't linked to the new work, told Reuters Health.

As in the general population, cancer and heart and blood vessel diseases were the most common cause of death among inmates -- accounting for more than half of deaths.

White prisoners died of cardiovascular diseases as often as expected and died of cancer slightly more often than non-prisoners.

Black inmates, by contrast, were between 30 and 40 percent less likely to die of those causes than those who weren't incarcerated. They were also less likely to die of diabetes, alcohol- and drug-related causes, airway diseases, accidents, suicide and murder than black men not in prison.

All told, their risk of death at any age was only half that of men living in the community.

For white men, the overall death rate was slightly higher -- by about 12 percent -- than in the general population, with some of that attributed to higher rates of death from infection, including HIV and hepatitis. When the researchers broke prisoners up by age, death rates were only higher for white prisoners age 50 and older.

"For some populations, being in prison likely provides benefits in regards to access to healthcare and life expectancy," said study author Dr. David Rosen, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

But, he added in an email, "it's important to remember that there are many possible negative consequences of imprisonment -- for example, broken relationships, loss of employment opportunities, and greater entrenchment in criminal activity -- that are not reflected in our study findings but nevertheless have an important influence on prisoners' lives and their overall health."

For Rosen, one of the main messages from the study is the need to make the world outside of prison walls safer, and to make sure people living there have adequate access to healthcare.

Do black men get better health care behind bars?
By Monique W. Morris
8:38 AM on 06/30/2011

More than 850,000 black men and women are currently incarcerated in federal or state prisons, or in local jails throughout the U.S. The conditions of confinement have caused deep wounds for African-Americans, compromising the healthy development of communities and causing collateral damages such as severed family relationships, decreased parental responsibility over children, loss of employability and wages, housing and employment discrimination, and disenfranchisement, among others.

Still, despite the numerous negative effects that have been associated with incarceration, could prison also be associated with a positive life outcome for black men?

A research study published by Vanderbilt University sociologist Evelyn Patterson in 2010 shows state prisons are having a positive effect on the mortality rates of black men. Her study estimates the rates of working-age prisoners and non-prisoners by gender and race, and finds that while prison has a "detrimental health impact on most groups," incarcerated black males at every age experience death rates that are lower than for black males outside of prison.

Between 1996 and 1998, black men not in prison lost almost twice as many years of life between the ages of 18 and 65 as incarcerated black men. In contrast, there was only a slight difference in the mortality rates of incarcerated white men when compared to their non-incarcerated white counterparts.

The study finds that while female prisoners lost 76 percent more years of life than women in the general population, the same is not true for black men, even when researchers control for deaths related to handguns and car accidents, factors that uniquely contribute to the deaths of non-incarcerated populations.

While the disparity can be partially explained by the fact that in prison, black men have access to immediate health care and nutrition if they are in need of medical care, the mortality rates for black men in the general society remain alarming.
"By no means is it true that health care in prison is even up to minimal standards. Across the country, states are facing lawsuits because of prison-related health care crises," said Dr. Barry Krisberg, Director of the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at UC Berkeley Law School. "This is really an indictment of the type of care available to African-American males in the community. They're reflecting the condition and quality of health care that is available at the intersection between poverty and race."

The illusion that prison can fix our health policy crisis is spreading. Last week, James Verone (who happens to be white) robbed a bank in North Carolina of one dollar just so that he could have access to health care. Of course, he probably should have thought that through, as the offense was too minor to likely result in a prison sentence. Still, he made his point.

Nationwide, unequal access to health care, poor education about the benefits of preventative care, and lingering distrust about the medical profession combine to leave black men's health in a state of crisis.

That anyone in a nation this well resourced would have to be criminalized into accessing medical treatment and preventative care is disgraceful; but for too many, that is the narrative. In too many communities, young black men and women have to be in contact with the justice system before they have access to a physician who can even moderately respond to their mental and physical health disorders.

In communities across the country, many parents make the painful decision to let their child get arrested so that he or she can finally have access to the types of treatments and interventions that lead to healthy decisions and behaviors.

"The health equity gap for black Americans far exceeds that of any other ethnic group in this country," NAACP Health Programs Director Shavon Arline told theGrio. "It is up to the people to demand our congressional leaders respond to the needs of African Americans, and not continue to support a broken health system."

Ultimately, mortality is just one of many points along a health continuum. Incarceration continues to be associated with negative physical health conditions for black men and women, including the contracting of infectious diseases and rape. Incarceration also has lasting mental health effects, particularly if inmates are struggling with a mental illness and history of drug addiction.
Are black men really healthier in prison? When other measures of health beyond mortality are considered, the answer is a definitive "no."

However, this study is an effective tool for raising the stakes with regard to how health care is administered outside of the construct of the American judicial system.

Scholars and policymakers should not be quick to assume that incarcerating African American males is actually helping them. According to the study, "prisoners are at risk for more diseases before, during, and after interaction with the criminal justice system...Although they may not die from the disease in prison due to the provision of health care services, they certainly have higher risks of dying once released."