Stigma and mental health

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4788463/
Moore, K. E., Stuewig, J. B., & Tangney, J. P. (2016). The Effect of Stigma on Criminal
Offenders’ Functioning: A Longitudinal Mediational Model. Deviant Behavior, 37(2), 196–218.
https://doi-org.db29.linccweb.org/10.1080/01639625.2014.1004035

Stigma affects inmates’ ability to adjust to their communities after release. (Positive regard)

Summary of Key Findings

In sum, perceived stigma prior to release can have serious implications for offenders’ functioning
once released from jail/prison. Participation as a member of one’s community (i.e. residential
stability, owning a home, having a driver’s license, supporting children, volunteering) is essential
for the successful reentry of offenders after release from jail. The dynamics of stigma and
adjustment are complex and appear to vary by race/ethnicity. For African Americans, who have
coped with the visible stigma of being a minority, recognition that they may be further
stigmatized by the (often concealable) stigma of having a criminal record may not carry the same
negative consequences as it does for Caucasian inmates who may not have previous experience
with stigma. African Americans may be inoculated to the impact of additional stigma, and may
have developed positive coping strategies that Caucasians are less likely to draw upon. This
underscores the importance of race in future research with any stigmatized group.

Mental healthcare after release and recidivism

Domino, M. E., Gertner, A., Grabert, B., Cuddeback, G. S., Childers, T., & Morrissey, J. P.
(2019). Do timely mental health services reduce re-incarceration among prison releasees with
severe mental illness? Health Services Research, 54(3), 592–602. https://doi-
org.db29.linccweb.org/10.1111/1475-6773.13128

These findings have important implications for structuring the interface between postrelease
mental health and community supervision (probation and parole) systems. Rather than serving as
a means of rehabilitation or protection from further criminal justice contacts, the receipt of
timely mental health services is seen here as a catalyst for deeper criminal justice involvement.
These results are consistent with previous work suggesting that mental health treatment can
function as a form of monitoring that increases the likelihood of technical violations, particularly
for individuals in parole or probation.[[15], [17], [28]] In these studies, greater contact with more
intensive program supervision was positively associated with greater levels of recidivism. In
contrast, the estimates from the subsample of persons who did not receive any form of
community custody upon release suggest that timely treatment may in fact have a protective
effect on subsequent prison use, although these estimates did not reach statistical significance.
Only a minority of study participants received timely mental health treatment. This could
indicate that mental health workers in the present study may have had fewer opportunities to
influence re‐incarceration through the use of leveraging community supervision and parole than
those in prior work.
Incarceration and health
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.885.4971&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Furthermore, this study suggests that defining mental health solely on the basis of clinical criteria
might conceal the existence of psychological coping mechanisms that are functional in prison but
that emerge as dysfunctional in other contexts. For example, relinquishing initiative and relying
on external constraints may be rewarded in a prison setting, but these characteristics can be
problematic in a home or workplace. By the same token, vigilance, mistrust, and blunted
emotions might help prisoners to cope with an especially violent environment. These
dispositions might also, however, elevate risk for cardiovascular disease and other stress-related
illnesses

https://aspe.hhs.gov/basic-report/psychological-impact-incarceration-implications-post-prison-
adjustment
Psych impact
DEPENDENCE ON INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE AND CONTINGENCIES.
B. HYPERVIGILANCE, INTERPERSONAL DISTRUST, AND SUSPICION.
C. EMOTIONAL OVER-CONTROL, ALIENATION, AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
DISTANCING.
D. SOCIAL WITHDRAWAL AND ISOLATION.
E. INCORPORATION OF EXPLOITATIVE NORMS OF PRISON CULTURE.
F. DIMINISHED SENSE OF SELF-WORTH AND PERSONAL VALUE.
G. POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS REACTIONS TO THE PAINS OF IMPRISONMENT.