Incarceration and Health: Assessing the Causal Relationship

• In Event: Health Consequences of Correctional Involvement

Abstract

Empirical evidence for the health effects of incarceration indicates a variety of physical problems. Yet most studies had to rely on research designs not fully equipped to deliver causal estimates, leaving the question about the causal nature of the relationship between incarceration and physical health unresolved. In this paper, we leverage multiple natural experiments in Denmark to estimate the effect of incarceration relative to home confinement under electronic monitoring on health. The longitudinal data come from administrative records and population registries and include information ranging from emergency room visits and specific diagnosis to mortality. Together, these outcomes allow us to tackle the twin topics of morbidity and mortality and engage the debate about what specific diseases incarceration matters most for. Our criminal justice measures also allow us to consider sentence duration—a dimension rarely assessed in prior research. Given the quality of the data and the research design, our study can provide compelling causal evidence for the effects of incarceration on physical health. It also allows us to examine the generalizability of the effects of incarceration to a setting with universal and high quality health care outside of prison.

Authors

• Peter Fallesen, Stockholm University and Rockwool Foundation

• Valerio Bacak, Rutgers University

• Lars Højsgaard Andersen, Rockwool Foundation

• Jason Schnittker, University of Pennsylvania