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| Investigating illness |
| By Sarah Etter, News Reporter |
| Published: 02/05/2007 |
Despite what some recent front page headlines have claimed about incarceration extending life expectancy, prisoners do not actually live any longer than people on the outside. After the media inaccurately reported that the recently released Bureau of Justice Statistics data brief, Medical Causes of Death in State Prisons, 2001-2004, said that prisoners have a longer life expectancy than the general population, BJS policy analyst Christopher Mumola wants to set the record straight. “It was definitely a misinterpretation that prisoners are outliving the general population,” he says. “We were looking at mortality rates. However, we only looked at the general population under 65 in comparison to prisoner mortality rates. If we were to look at overall life expectancy, there are quite a few reasons to believe that those with prison experience probably would not live longer than those on the outside.” The report author also says that prisoners typically come from a lower socio-economic background and often have limited access to health care, making them likely to die earlier than the general population. “A quieter headline about this report is that it's the first time we've had this kind of information on the correctional population,” Mumola says. “For decades, we've collected basic death counts and categorized causes of death. But for illnesses, we've only measured AIDS. We've never been able to offer a profile of who is dying from these illnesses. From a research perspective, the emergence of this information is a big development.” The report shows that between 2001 and 2004, 89 percent of state prisoner deaths were due to medical conditions. Heart disease, cancer, liver diseases and AIDS were the leading causes of death. Liver cancer was found to be the deadliest of the cancers. Only eight percent of deaths were due to suicide or homicide. “We found that, by and large, prisoners are dealing with an outgrowth of health issues,” adds Mumola. “In more than two-thirds of the population, the deaths were usually from an illness that was present during admittance to the facility. This is more about prisoners carrying these illnesses into prison than acquiring them once they are incarcerated.” So it seems that corrections systems are handling an influx of inmates with communicable diseases. “These rates actually indicate that corrections systems are doing their best to provide good health care,” Mumola says. “If we were to see a spike in death after release, it would indicate these offenders were not receiving proper care for their illnesses, or that DOCs were releasing them so they didn't have to pay for expensive medical treatments. That is far from the case.” Another interesting statistic was the disparity between male and female deaths. Men and women were found to die from the same diseases. However, 72 percent more men than women actually died. Mumola attributes the disparity to a higher number of males in the corrections system as a whole. The report also found that “State prisoner mortality rates increased steadily with age.” Inmates between the ages of 18 and 24 had the lowest mortality rates, while inmates 45 and older made up the majority of prisoner deaths. “These statistics are kind of what we expected to find with regard to the aging prisoner population. Inmates are known to age more quickly, and so these numbers are nothing out of the ordinary.” A recent study out of Washington state indicated that prisoners sampled were more likely to die after release than the general population (Repent, release, expire 01/22). Mumola says the two studies combined offer a clear picture of inmates and fatality. “The [WA study] and this study kind of go hand-in-hand,” he says. “Washington was looking at the death rates of those recently released, and we looked at life and death during incarceration. I would say the two reports make good companions.” Related resources: Washington state study, Release from Prison National Commission on Correctional Health Care |
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