Health impact of incarceration on friends and family in the community

A committee of community and university representatives developed a county-wide community survey using CPBH principles. The survey addressed a broad range of health issues and other issues of community interest. CBO partners were particularly interested in examining the health impact of incarceration on the general community. Randomly selected telephone respondents (N = 1688) interviewed by professional survey staff included European Americans (67%), African Americans (26%), women (71%), and men (29%) ranging in age from 18 to 93 (M = 54, SD = 17). Controlling for gender, age, marital status, educational level, fruit and vegetable consumption, physical exercise adequacy, body mass index (BMI), tobacco smoking status, and heavy alcohol drinking status, those who had a relative or friend in prison within the last five years: Rated their physical health more poorly; had more days in the past month where poor physical health interfered with their usual activities; rated their mental or emotional health more poorly; reported experiencing more stress; and reported experiencing more depressive symptoms. African Americans were more likely than European Americans to report having a relative or friend in prison within the last five years; 49% vs. 20%, respectively. The closer the respondent felt to the person incarcerated, the more poorly respondents rated their mental and physical health status. African Americans felt closer to the person incarcerated than did European Americans. Our results indicate that incarceration is a factor of influence in mental and physical health and in health disparities between African Americans and European Americans.