Going to prison or even just getting arrested negatively affects a person’s health long after the experience, worsening age-related health problems such as chronic pain, sleep quality and memory. The findings, by faculty at the University of Maryland School of Public Health (UMD SPH), are from research published this week in the Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology.
The study examined data from the ongoing Woodlawn Study, which has followed over 1,200 people since they attended first grade in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood in 1966-1967. This study is unique in that it examines arrest and incarceration separately and broadens the understanding of aging by tracking new factors related to people’s wellbeing and functional abilities, such as sleep, loneliness, cognitive functioning and hearing loss.
SPH Research Professor Dr. Elaine Eggleston Doherty, expert in criminology and public health, with SPH colleagues Dr. Kerry Green and Brittany Bugbee, authored the new research, finding people with a history of incarceration faced worse long-term health and aging outcomes; they were less likely to be free from physical impairments (55%), less likely to sleep well (36%), and less likely to have normal cognition (52%) than people who have never been arrested or incarcerated (70%, 46%, and 71% respectively).
“The policies driving mass incarceration in the 1980s and 1990s were disproportionately felt by communities of color who are now in their 60s, yet we know far too little about how the long shadow of these early-life experiences shape the aging process. Understanding these experiences is essential if we want to design aging-related supports and strategies to improve aging and reduce disparities.”
For this most recent Woodlawn Study assessment at 62 years old, researchers spoke with over 500 people from the original group, of whom half still live in the Chicago area, a quarter are retired and just over half are working. Three out of four people in the Woodlawn Study cohort are still alive.
Doherty, who has worked with Woodlawn Study data for 20 years, says the impact of the study volunteer’s long participation makes possible unique research that considers how social factors throughout the full span of a person’s life shape their health and well-being.. Against the backdrop of an aging U.S. population, these findings highlight that criminal legal system contact impacts multiple facets of healthy aging and offers insights to improve the aging experience.