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Health Inequities in Carceral State - Coggle Diagram
Health Inequities in Carceral State
Criminal Justice Contacts
it is now acknowledged that criminal justice system has a correlation to health outcomes, but there is little research on connections between criminal justice contacts and racial health disparities.
this study looks at ties between criminal justice contacts and increased risk of inflammation and depression, especially through a racial lens. this is a big part that drives the black-white health gap.
incarcerated individuals, especially those who are incarcerated long term show increased C-reactive protein and depression.
this is even more worrisome when considering that minority racial groups are more likely to be incarcerated longer than an equal white counterpart for the same crime. for example, thinking about the crack/cocaine epidemic and how all of these black people have been thrown in jail for excessive amounts of time upon usage/possession of crack, while cocaine served a lesser sentence that was predominantly more accessible to higher SES, white people.
age, duration, and dosage of exposure remain unknown.
arrests are also strongly correlated with mental health. racial inequities in arrests contribute to even more increased depressive symptoms in racial minorities. This is also alarming, for example, considering minority individuals are more likely to get pulled over for speeding etc.
aggressive policing, increased surveillance, mass incarcerations, stop and frisk, racial inequities in prisons all contribute to poorer mental health.
affects more than individuals, contributes to population disparities
incarceration is a critical, early life determinant of health and racial inequities.
over 7 million individuals currently incarcerated in US. Way more than other countries, probably since Capitalism allows profit from the prison and justice system. People want to fill the prisons and will make excuses to fill them- driving these health disparities even further and setting racial minorities back.
doesn't even include those who are just arrested/ harassed at the hand of law enforcement.
low SES black men at greatest risk. ~ 60% of black men without a high school degree can expect to be imprisoned by age 30.
Soft Sterilization
US has a history of forced sterilization across many populations, but a good chunk come from the legal involuntary sterilization laws for incarcerated women in prisons.
sterilization is used as a form of reproductive control that mainly affects minority women.
after regulations were passed against forced sterilization, coercion tactics were still used to make sterilizations appear voluntary.
policing and incarceration driven and upheld by white supremacy
soft sterilization: Long Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARC) is another easily mediated method of sterilization for vulnerable populations.
marketed for fool-proof contraception, since it requires no further action after insertion. Geared toward black and minority racial people with uteruses because researchers argue that they experience the highest rates of unplanned pregnancy.
effective for 3-10 years and virtually free of human error. Although this could be a great (and should be accessible) option for some people, it makes it really easy to coerce and deceive prison population into controlled reproduction.
the 'reversible' narrative is really pushed as a way to justify the soft sterilizatioin
identifies unplanned pregnancy as a cause, and not a consequence of social inequality
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like victim blaming and diverts attention to the real issue.
LARC offers providers a way to have a provider-controlled, highly effective, nonagentive controlled reproduction.
reproductive autonomy is not possible with the presence of a carceral system. need reform, or even better, destruction of the overall structure.