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Primary Submission Category: Health equity
How Health Shapes Reentry Concerns Among a National Sample of Incarcerated Adults Sentenced to Juvenile Life Without Parole (JLWOP)
Authors: Dylan Jackson, Jeffrey T. Ward, Daphne M. Brydon, Leah Ouellet, Laura S. Abrams,
Presenting Author: Dylan B. Jackson*
Research on the health sequelae of incarceration often centers on people serving shorter sentences, often for non-violent offenses. Less attention, however, is given to the 1 in 7 people in prison serving life sentences, including those sentenced as juveniles to life without parole (JLWOP, or juvenile lifers). Recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions have opened the door to a second chance at freedom for juvenile lifers. While ~1200 now reside in the community, many juvenile lifers remain incarcerated awaiting the possibility of release. Still, there has been no quantitative data that unpacks the health and functioning of incarcerated juvenile lifers – many of whom have already served decades in prison. Moreover, we know little about how their health and functioning structure concerns about critical domains of reentry (e.g., housing, transportation, employment, financial and technological literacy, relationships). To fill this gap, we surveyed a sample of 430 incarcerated adults (ages 29-73) in 19 states who were sentenced to JLWOP prior to 2012 using robust, validated measures of mental and physical health and a 25-item inventory (alpha = 0.93) capturing varied concerns about returning to the community. Respondents had spent an average of 25.5 years in prison and reported an average of >6 reentry concerns, with the most common concerns being the stigma of their criminal history (54%), financial literacy (38%), adjusting to being free (33%), using technology (33%), supporting oneself financially (32%), and obtaining housing (32%). Findings indicate that, net of sociodemographic factors and childhood adversity, compounding mental and physical health diagnoses exert a strong and statistically significant effect on the number of reentry concerns. Additionally, myriad health difficulties in the 12 months prior to the survey also significantly elevated reentry concerns, regardless of age. Implications for policy and practice will be discussed.