Controlling Care: Race, Gender, and Psychotropic Drug Use in State and Federal Prisons

• In Event: 480 - Section on Medical Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 01. Incarceration and Health

Abstract

Psychotropic drugs are widely distributed in US state prisons at rates that exceed their distribution in non-institutionalized society. We analyzed group differences in the prevalence and historical trends in the use of psychotropic drugs among US state prison inmates. We used the 1979, 1986, and 1991 waves of Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities to assess inmate self-reports of using psychotropic drugs during their incarceration. We found racial, ethnic, and gender differences in psychotropic use among state prisoners during incarceration between 1979 and 1991. Black and Latino prisoners and male prisoners were less likely to report taking psychotropics than white or female prisoners, respectively. Black male prisoners are the least likely racial and gender group to report taking a psychotropic drug between 1979 and 1991. Psychotropic use also varied over time with a spike in 1986 for all groups, but especially females, compared to 1979 and 1991. Psychotropic drugs represent a massive public expenditure for prisons, but more research is needed to evaluate whether they are equitably and justifiably distributed to state prisoners based on race, ethnicity, gender, and mental health status.

Authors

• Anthony Ryan Hatch, Wesleyan University

• Ben Lennox Kail, Georgia State University

• Renee Marie Shelby, Georgia Institute of Technology