The Health Effects of Prisons

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hjalmarsson, Randi; Lindquist, Matthew J.
• 署名单位: University of Gothenburg; Stockholm University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-APPLIED ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7782
• DOI: 10.1257/app.20200615
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 234-+
• 关键词: prosecutorial discretion; incarceration; mortality; inmates; release; length; death

摘要

This paper studies the health effects of Swedish prison reforms that held sentences constant but increased the share of time inmates had to serve. The increased time served did not harm post-release health and actually reduced mortality risk. We find especially large decreases in mortality for offenders not previously incarcerated, younger offenders, and those more attached to the labor market. Risk of suicide and circulatory death fell for inmates with mental health problems and older inmates, respectively. In-prison health care uti-lization and program participation increased with time served, sug-gesting health care treatment and services as the key mechanism for mortality declines.