Having people incarcerated for non-violent offenses affects families in marginalized communities across the country. Incarcerating nonviolent offenders for marijuana is one of the root causes for mass incarceration by the local, state, and federal government. Programs are available for helping…
Tag: Incarceration
Improving release process and treatment after incarceration may reduce opioid overdoses.
New research from Tufts University School of Medicine suggests critical changes to the process of transitioning people out of jail while on substance use treatment can reduce opioid deaths among the highly susceptible population.
To Reduce Smoking Rates in Prisons, Cessation Programs Must Be Expanded and Extended
Rutgers researchers find that for programs in prison to effectively curb smoking, at least four weeks of direct intervention is required, followed by months of substance dependence group counseling.
Study Finds Link Between Youth Incarceration and Lifetime Suicide Risk
A history of incarceration may increase suicide attempts, particularly for women who were incarcerated at a young age, a University at Albany School of Public Health study finds.
New Study Casts Doubt on Electronic Ankle Monitors as Alternative to Incarceration
The use of GPS-equipped ankle monitors is increasingly viewed as a more humane alternative to incarceration, yet a report released today finds they cause many of the same harms associated with traditional incarceration.
Providing Better Health Care to Women Who Have Been Incarcerated
Rutgers Women’s Health Institute addresses the unique health concerns of women reentering society after incarceration through a new state commission
‘Virtual nature’ experiences reduce stress in prisons
For people who are in jails or prisons, experiencing nature virtually is usually their only option. A new study from University of Utah researchers finds that exposure to nature imagery or nature sounds decreased physiological signs of stress in the incarcerated, and spurred their interest in learning more about the habitats they experienced. The researchers also found that, in general, people didn’t strongly prefer visual to auditory nature experiences.
Preventing suicide among a ‘hidden population’ in public housing
New research suggests that African American families living in public housing are a “hidden population” when it comes to national suicide prevention efforts.

Study Aims to Break the Chains of Incarceration in African American Males
The majority of African American men return to prison within one to three years of their first release. A study explores why re-entry programs are not as effective for them when compared to others. Researchers suggest a holistic approach that addresses psychological and historical trauma in conjunction with the environmental factors that perpetuate the stigma justice-involved African American men experience. The approach accounts for negative associations developed in the centuries of oppression and segregation that shape their current societal interactions.

UTEP Professor Part of Comprehensive Prison Study
The University of Texas at El Paso’s Melinda Tasca, Ph.D., is participating in the most comprehensive study ever into the causes and effects of prison violence. Researchers expect their findings to enhance institutional culture and safety within prisons.
Mental Health Units in Correctional Facilities: Scarce Data but Promising Outcomes
Specialized mental health units (MHUs) may be critical to managing the high rates of serious mental illness in incarcerated populations. But research data on unit characteristics, services provided, and outcomes achieved by MHUs in correctional facilities are scarce, according to a report in the July/August issue of Harvard Review of Psychiatry. The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.
Place doesn’t trump race as predictor of incarceration
Steven Alvarado is the author of “The Complexities of Race and Place: Childhood Neighborhood Disadvantage and Adult Incarceration for Whites, Blacks, and Latinos,” published June 1 in the journal Socius, a study showing that for black Americans growing up in better neighborhoods doesn’t diminish the likelihood of going to prison nearly as much as it does for whites or Latinos.
Cornell leads statewide effort to provide masks for incarcerated inmates
Rob Scott, director of Cornell Prison Education Program, has organized 14 New York colleges and universities to provide masks for every person incarcerated in the state – nearly 43,000 people.
Providing child support after prison: Some state policies may miss the mark
Many states have policies that attempt to help formerly incarcerated people find work by limiting an employer’s ability to access or use criminal records as part of the hiring process.
But there is little evidence that these restrictions are helping non-resident fathers provide financial support to their children.

Study: Visitor’s garden is improving prison visitation experience for all
New research shows that a visitor’s garden designed and built by Iowa State University students and incarcerated individuals at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women is helping to strengthen connections between the women and their children.

Layoffs lead to more violent crime: study
Displaced workers experienced a 20% increase in criminal charges the year after being laid off
Katherine Foss: author of the forthcoming book Constructing the Outbreak: Epidemics in Media & Collective Memory. University of Massachusetts Press.
https://www.mtsu.edu/faculty/katherine-foss Available to provide expertise on the potrayal of the Coronavirus in the media and in political commentary. Epidemics in Media and Collective Memory Breastfeeding discourse in media (from advertising to entertainment television) Constructions of health responsibility and representations of…
Dads in prison can bring poverty, instability for families on the outside
A new University of Washington study finds that families with a father in prison tend to live in neighborhoods with higher poverty.

As ‘Orange is the New Black’ Ends, UNLV Professor Explores How Conditions Have Changed for Incarcerated Women
The Litchfield Correctional Facility in upstate New York might be the fictitious background of Netflix’s hit series “Orange is the New Black.” But the stories of the inmates — portrayed by Hollywood actresses — could be easily found throughout real…