U.S. Prison Policy -- Sink, Don't Swim
Prisons Fail to Rehabilitate
| We present excerpts of a report appearing in the Denver Post (Colorado, U.S.). |
by Karen Augé
If there is anything more risky than going to prison, it may be getting out of prison, a new study shows.In the first two weeks after release, former inmates die at a rate 13 times that of the general population, a University of Colorado researcher has found.
The leading cause of death among former inmates is drug overdose. And the most common deadly drug is cocaine, according to the study by Dr. Ingrid Binswanger, which will appear in this week's New England Journal of Medicine.
Heart attacks pose the second greatest risk to the newly freed, followed by homicide.
"Clearly there is a period of high vulnerability in the first two weeks after release," Binswanger said.
The study followed 30,200 inmates released from Washington state prisons for just under two years.
In all, 443 former inmates died over the two years; 38 died within the first two weeks of release.
"The differences are more striking for women than they are for men," said Binswanger, a public health researcher at CU's health sciences center. She did the study while on a fellowship in Washington.
The risk of death was 5 1/2 times higher for women released from prison than for other women. Eighty-seven percent of ex-prisoners in the study were men.
The study did not differentiate among crimes committed or the length of time the inmates spent in prison.
Some experts said the results don't surprise them, because inmates have more physical and mental health problems than other citizens and often get little help making the transition to freedom after a highly structured life.
"I don't know how anybody makes it," said Christie Donner of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition.
"One day they are in a secure facility where life is completely dictated," and the next they are on their own, Donner said.
"There is a perception that there is a transition period. But that handoff doesn't exist," she said.
In 2005, there were 784,400 people on supervised parole from prison nationwide, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The bureau estimates that one quarter of all inmates have some kind of mental illness; another 23,046 are HIV positive.
In a 2002 report to Congress, the National Committee on Correctional Health Care estimated that 67,000 inmates are released from the nation's prisons each year with chronic illnesses such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease - but no medications.
In addition, the report found that only 23 states provide some medications for mentally ill inmates upon release.
In Colorado, departing inmates get a 30-day supply of whatever medication they have been taking in prison, including medication for mental illness, said Alison Morgan, corrections department spokeswoman.
Sick or healthy, Colorado inmates who have not been returned to prison on a parole violation get $100 and a set of clothes when they leave, Morgan said.
The department does not track prisoners after release but is notified when inmates on parole die, she said.
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Also see: America's Maquiladoras
Government-Sponsored Killing Continues
U.S. Prison Population Tops 2 Million |
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