Imprisonment and (inequality in) population health

This article extends research on the consequences of mass imprisonment and the factors shaping population health and health inequalities by considering the associations between imprisonment and population health—measured as life expectancy at birth and the infant mortality rate—and black–white differences in population health using state-level panel data from the United States (N = 669), 1980–2004. Results show that imprisonment is significantly associated with poorer population health, though associations between imprisonment and infant mortality and female life expectancy are somewhat more consistently statistically significant than are associations with male life expectancy, and associations are more pronounced and statistically significant for blacks than they are for whites. Results also show, however, that increases in imprisonment are associated with decreases in the mortality rates of young black men. Thus, though imprisonment tends to be associated with higher mortality risk and greater black–white differences in mortality, it may, in the short-run, have some paradoxical mortality benefits for young black men.

► Mass imprisonment has transformed the social landscape of the urban poor.
► I consider the associations of imprisonment with population health and health inequalities.
► I find that imprisonment has vastly diminished the mortality gains of African Americans.
► Effects on whites and total population health are somewhat more muted.
► Imprisonment may enhance the health of young, African American men, however.