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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Racial Differences in Jail-Based Treatment for Mentally Ill Detainees

Nadine Barrett, PhD, Cecil G. Sheps for Health Services Research, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 725 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., CB#7590, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7590, 919-966-5829, nbarrett@schsr.unc.edu

Purpose: Current research suggests disparities exist for minority populations in access and use of community-based mental health services. Do these disparities carry-over to mentally ill detainees in jail? This study examines the extent to which racial differences exist with regard to jail mental health service use among detainees.

Methods: This presentation addresses these issues with data over a five-year (1993-98) time period from King County (Seattle), WA. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare the jail behavioral health experiences – utilization and costs – among 4,888 white and black jail detainees with severe mental illness.

Results: Among jail detainees with severe mental illness, 67% of white detainees received behavioral health care during their incarceration compared to only 37% of black detainees. Among those who received care, however, more was spent on black detainees (M = $11,243, SD = $21,411, Mdn = $2,096) compared to their white counterparts (M = $ 6,977, SD = $14,006, Mdn = $1,452, p < .001).

Conclusions: These findings suggest that black jail detainees with severe mental illness are less likely to receive behavioral health care , but more is spent on their care when they do receive it compared to white detainees. Jails are a public health outpost and developing effective interventions for detainees that are fair and equitable may increase continuity of care with community services and reduce future detentions.

Learning Objectives:

Keywords: Mental Health Services, Mental Illness

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No

Use of Behavioral Health Services and Jails among Persons with Mental Illness

The 134th Annual Meeting & Exposition (November 4-8, 2006) of APHA