Minnesota Study Shows Disproportionate Rate of Health and Mental Problems for Recently Incarcerated
by Michael Thompson
The Journal of General Internal Medicine recently published an open access study that looked at health conditions for people in Minnesota who had recently experienced homelessness or incarceration and compared them to the state’s general adult population.
The study was expansive. It examined the medical information of more than 4.3 million people over a two-year period from 2021 to 2023, including more than 51,000 who had been recently jailed and more than 5,000 recently imprisoned. Twenty-two health conditions were reviewed and in nearly every case, recently incarcerated people suffered at greater rates than the general population. Recent victims of homelessness suffered at higher rates than everyone else at every measure except methamphetamine use disorder.
As mental health problems are often relegated to the country’s jails and prisons, mental health and drug use showed very high correlations with recent incarceration and homelessness. Bipolar disorder sufferers represent just 1.6% of adults statewide in Minnesota but an astonishing 8.0% and 8.1% of those who had been recently incarcerated in prisons and jails, respectively. The differing rate of psychotic disorders was particularly stark, with such conditions affecting just 1.8% of the general population but almost 18% of those recently unhoused; likewise, they were prevalent among nearly 11% of the recently jailed and 8% of the recently imprisoned.
It is hardly surprising that the recently jailed have a five times greater number of people with documented suicide attempts or ideation than the general public in Minnesota. The recently imprisoned are also 4.5 times more likely than the public on the same measure. And, among the recently unhoused, one in eight either attempt suicide or have suicidal ideation.
Other serious medical conditions did not quite have the staggering differences found in mental health, but still exceeded that of the general public. COPD topped the list, which affected the recently incarcerated at nearly twice the rate of statewide adults and at a tripled rate for the recently unhoused. As commentary on the study from the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI) points out, 20% of state prisoners and 68% of jailed persons with a serious medical condition remain untreated. PPI also referenced previous studies that found for every year incarcerated there was a two-year drop in life expectancy. In addition, over almost two decades, 2001 to 2019, the death rate in jails and prisons rose 33%.
These staggering statistics showed stark differences along racial and ethnic boundaries. For those the study identified as white, mental depression and anxiety were greater for those suffering recent incarceration or homelessness than the other cohorts. In contrast, recently incarcerated and homeless people who identified as Black had higher rates of psychotic disorders than the remaining cohorts. Physical health problems had similar disparities.
The authors of the study note that the higher rate of physical health problems for those who were recently incarcerated could stem from the fact people outside tend to have access to better mental and physical healthcare. And according to PPI, incarceration and homelessness both tend to cause accelerated aging and high rates of age-adjusted mortality.
Sources: Journal of General Internal Medicine, Prison Policy Initiative
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