Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Oct;21(10):719-26.
doi: 10.1016/j.annepidem.2011.04.007. Epub 2011 Jul 7.

All-cause and cause-specific mortality among black and white North Carolina state prisoners, 1995-2005

David L Rosen  1 , David A Wohl, Victor J Schoenbach
Affiliations

All-cause and cause-specific mortality among black and white North Carolina state prisoners, 1995-2005

David L Rosen et al. Ann Epidemiol. 2011 Oct.

Abstract

Purpose: We compared mortality rates among state prisoners and other state residents to identify prisoners' health care needs.

Methods: We linked North Carolina prison records with state death records for 1995-2005 to estimate all-cause and cause-specific death rates among black and white male prisoners ages 20-79 years and used standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) to compare these observed deaths with the expected number on the basis of death rates among state residents.

Results: The all-cause SMR of black prisoners was 0.52 (95% confidence interval, 0.48-0.57), with fewer deaths than expected from accidents, homicides, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. The all-cause SMR of white prisoners was 1.12 (95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.25) with fewer deaths than expected for accidents but more deaths than expected from viral hepatitis, liver disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, and HIV.

Conclusions: The mortality of black prisoners was lower than that of black state residents for both traumatic and chronic causes of death. The mortality of white prisoners was lower than that of white state residents for accidents but greater for several chronic causes of death. Future studies should investigate the effect of prisoners' preincarceration and in-prison morbidity, the prison environment, and prison health care on prisoners' patterns of mortality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Race-stratified crude, age stratified, and age adjusted mortality rates among adult male prisoners and other adult male residents, North Carolina, 1995-2005 Mortality rates were calculated for all Black and White adult (aged 20-79 years) males in prison and other adult male state residents across 11 years. Age adjusted estimates were calculated using the US Standard 2000 population. Resident point estimate mortality rates are labeled with circles; prisoner point estimates are labeled with boxes and accompanied by 95% CIs, presented using lines with caps. Mortality rates are plotted on a log scale. 95% CI = Ninety-five percent confidence intervals
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Walmsley R. [March 21, 2010];World Prison Population List, Eighth Edition. Available at http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/law/research/icps/downloads/wppl-8th_41.pdf.
    1. [April 5, 2008];The Pew Center on the States. One in 100: Behind Bards in America 2008. Available at http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org.
    1. The Health Status of Soon-to-be-Released Inmates, A Report to Congress, Volume 1. National Commission on Correctional Health Care; Chicago: Mar, 2002.
    1. Mumola CJ. Substance Abuse and Treatment, State and Federal Prisoners, 1997. US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics; Washington, DC: Jan, 1999. NCJ 172871.
    1. James DJ, Glaze LE. Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates. US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics; Washington, DC: Sep, 2006. NCJ 213600.

Publication types