Incarcerated individuals' experiences of COVID-19 in the United States.

Purpose: This study aims to examine steps taken by correctional staff to prevent COVID-19 from spreading through correctional facilities and explores strategies used by incarcerated individuals to reduce their own risk of contracting COVID-19 during confinement.

Design/methodology/approach: Data were drawn from interviews with 327 individuals incarcerated after March 16, 2020, in Midwest1, Midwest2 and Southeast state using a questionnaire developed for this purpose. All study participants were actively involved in a randomized controlled trial of a behavioral health reentry intervention and the human subjects board approved the supplement of this study on COVID-19; interviews were conducted from April 15 to November 19, 2020.

Incarcerated Women's Experiences and Perceptions of Participating in Research.

The research process within prisons has largely considered researchers' perspectives. Only one known study explicitly examined incarcerated persons' perceptions and no known studies have explored incarcerated persons' experiences with research on sensitive topics. This study examines incarcerated women's experiences with participating in research on victimization.

Enhancing Social Support Postincarceration: Results From a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: Over 50% of released prisoners are reincarcerated within 3 years. Social support from loved ones postincarceration significantly reduces the likelihood of reincarceration. Increasingly, intervention developers aim to implement interventions that will enhance the stability of support available.

The interaction of serious mental disorder and race on time to reincarceration.

Individuals with a serious mental disorder (SMD) are disproportionately incarcerated in state prisons, and research has shown that individuals with SMD are more likely to recidivate upon release. Persons of color are also disproportionately incarcerated and at risk for repeat incarcerations. However, minimal research has yet to examine whether the relationship between SMD and recidivism is conditioned on race.

A Longitudinal Outcome Evaluation of a Prison-Based Sex Offender Treatment Program.

Sex offender outcome studies continue to produce mixed results. A common critique of these studies is their lack of methodological rigor. This study attempts to address this critique by adhering to the standards established by the Collaborative Outcome Data Committee (CODC) aimed at increasing the quality and confidence in outcome studies.

Social support among releasing men prisoners with lifetime trauma experiences.

High rates of lifetime trauma experiences exist among men incarcerated in US state and federal prisons. Because lifetime trauma experiences have been linked to problematic behavioral and psychiatric outcomes for incarcerated populations, trauma-informed interventions could improve post-release well-being of releasing men prisoners with trauma histories. Social support has consistently been found to have a positive impact on trauma-related outcomes in non-incarcerated populations.

The relationship between childhood abuse and psychosis for women prisoners: assessing the importance of frequency and type of victimization.

This study examines the relationship between childhood victimization and self-reported current symptoms of psychosis in an incarcerated female population in the United States. Participants are 159 randomly selected women incarcerated in two North Carolina state prisons. Participants completed a battery of self-report measures to assess childhood victimization and current and lifetime experience of audio/visual hallucinations and delusions.

Histories of childhood victimization and subsequent mental health problems, substance use, and sexual victimization for a sample of incarcerated women in the US.

Women are entering US prisons at nearly double the rate of men and are the fastest growing prison population. Current extant literature focuses on the prevalence of the incarceration of women, but few studies exist that emphasize the different trajectories to prison. For example, women prisoners have greater experiences of prior victimization, more reports of mental illness, and higher rates of illicit substance use.

Does volunteering for sex offender treatment matter? Using propensity score analysis to understand the effects of volunteerism and treatment on recidivism.

A common critique of program evaluations of prison-based sex offender treatment holds that the samples inherently show selection bias because the participants typically volunteer for treatment. To address this critique, we used propensity score analysis to assess the influence of volunteerism on treatment effects. We examined recidivism outcomes for a sample of participants who volunteered for treatment, of whom some participated in treatment (n = 161) and some did not (n = 282) and compared these outcomes to the recidivism rate of a matched sample of nonvolunteers for treatment (n = 443).

Self-medication among traumatized youth: structural equation modeling of pathways between trauma history, substance misuse, and psychological distress.

In an effort to self-medicate psychological distress stemming from exposure to traumatic life events, at-risk youth may be likely to seek intoxication via substance use. Concomitantly, self-medication with psychoactive substances is theorized to confer risk of developing future psychiatric and substance use disorders. The present study employed structural equation modeling to examine self-medication among a sample of 723 youth in residential treatment for antisocial behavior via recursive and non-recursive relationships between trauma history, substance misuse, and psychological distress.

"Let momma take 'em": portrayals of women supporting male former prisoners.

Women provide support for many vulnerable groups, work that is frequently discounted with gendered stereotypes. One growing vulnerable group is former prisoners who often return to women family members. We completed a qualitative study with 25 former prisoners and criminal justice staff to examine their conceptualizations of the demands placed on women supporters of former prisoners.

Consumers' perceptions of forensic assertive community treatment.

Objective: The evidence for forensic assertive community treatment (FACT) is promising; however, a number of gaps in our knowledge about FACT remain. For example, only one study in the extant literature includes the perspectives of FACT consumers and more information about what consumers like and/or dislike about FACT is needed.

Methods: To address this gap in our knowledge, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 FACT consumers from four FACT teams in Ohio.

Parole officers' experiences of the symptoms of secondary trauma in the supervision of sex offenders.

The work of parole officers who supervise sex offenders rarely comes to the public's attention unless something goes wrong. Research suggests that those providing postrelease supervision of convicted sex offenders likely experience trauma as a result of their work and that little support is available to respond to their emotional needs. This manuscript explores parole officers' and parole officer supervisors' experiences of the symptoms of secondary trauma, defined as the emotional and cognitive experiences of hearing stories that recount one or more traumatic events.

General medical problems of incarcerated persons with severe and persistent mental illness: a population-based study.

Objective: Persons with severe mental illness have higher rates of chronic general medical illness compared with the general population. Similarly, compared with the general population, incarcerated persons have higher rates of chronic medical illness; however, there is little information about the synergy between severe mental illness and incarceration and the general medical problems of consumers. To address this gap in the literature this study addressed the following question: are consumers with a history of incarceration at greater risk of general medical problems compared with consumers without such a history?

Methods: Administrative data were used to compare the medical problems of 3,690 persons with severe mental illness with a history of incarceration and 2,042 persons with severe mental illness with no such history.

HIV-infected prison inmates: depression and implications for release back to communities.

High rates of both HIV and depression are seen in prison populations; depression has been linked to disease progression in HIV, risky behaviors, and medication non-adherence. Despite this, few studies have examined HIV-infected inmates with depression. We therefore conducted an exploratory study of a sample of HIV-infected inmates in North Carolina prisons (N = 101) to determine what proportion of this sample screened positive for depression and whether depression was associated with different pre-incarceration characteristics or post-release needs.