Drug Induced Homicide Defense Toolkit
C. Jail and prison actually increases the risk of overdose and death Research shows that jail and prison time are tightly correlated with mental health problems, the intensity of opioid use, and overdose death.288 A recent study in Lancet Public Health found that counties with high rates of incarceration have a greater than 50% increase in drug-related deaths compared to those with low incarceration rates. As its authors noted, Previous research has shown that mortality rates among former inmates are nearly 13 times higher than that of the general population, former inmates are at high risk of mortality during the first 2 weeks post release, and high incarceration rates exert cascading effects spanning generations, local communities, and other networks of current or former incarcerated people. Incarceration is directly associated with stigma, discrimination, poor mental health, and chronic economic hardship, all of which are linked to drug use disorders. Moreover, the interaction between substance abuse and incarceration interferes with treatment and reduces the likelihood of recovery.289 From moral, public health, and legal standpoints, DIH enforcement fails to consider the increased degree of harm these efforts do to people with substance use disorders. Incarceration generally has a deleterious impact on a person’s mental and physical health. 288
Tyler N.A. Winkelman et al., Health, Polysubstance Use, and Criminal Justice Involvement Among Adults With Varying Levels of Opioid Use, 1 JAMA Network Open e180558 (2018), https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2687053. 289
Elias Nosrati et al., Economic decline, incarceration, and mortality from drug use disorders in the USA between 1983 and 2014: an observational analysis, 4 Lancet Pub. Health e326 (2019), https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(19)30104-5/fulltext.
Disclaimer: All content is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice
92
