Mental Health Risk Factors and Parole Decisions: Does Inmate Mental Health Status Affect Who Gets Released.

Parole decision-the decision to release an incarcerated individual from prison conditionally-is one of the most critical decisions across justice systems around the world. The decision carries with it significant consequences: for the freedom of the individual awaiting release (the parolee); for the safety of the community in which they will return; and for the correctional system overall, especially its organizational capacity. The current study attempts to add to the parole decision-making literature by specifically analyzing the role that mental health factors may play in explaining parole decisions.

Disciplinary responses to misconduct among female prison inmates with mental illness, substance use disorders, and co-occurring disorders.

Objective: Most female inmates have mental health, substance use, or co-occurring disorders (CODs), which can create greater difficulty adjusting to incarceration and higher rates of prison misconduct. The response of prison officials to institutional misbehaviors has important implications for female inmates' experiences while incarcerated, their likelihood of parole, and the clinical course of their condition. This article examined whether disciplinary actions are more severe for women with CODs.

Gender differences in prison-based drug treatment participation.

Prisons inmates have high rates of substance abuse and associated social and health problems, and a concomitant high need for drug treatment while incarcerated. Female inmates have an even greater treatment need, yet most inmates do not participate in treatment while incarcerated. Using data from a nationally representative sample of prison inmates, this article examines the impact of gender on prison treatment participation and gender differences in the factors associated with clinical treatment participation.

Benefits and costs of substance abuse treatment programs for state prison inmates: results from a lifetime simulation model.

Reflecting drug use patterns and criminal justice policies throughout the 1990s and 2000s, prisons hold a disproportionate number of society's drug abusers. Approximately 50% of state prisoners meet the criteria for a diagnosis of drug abuse or dependence, but only 10% receive medically based drug treatment. Because of the link between substance abuse and crime, treating substance abusing and dependent state prisoners while incarcerated has the potential to yield substantial economic benefits.

Early disruptions of the blood-brain barrier may contribute to exacerbated neuronal damage and prolonged functional recovery following stroke in aged rats.

We examined the effects of age on stroke progression and outcome in order to explore the association between blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption, neuronal damage, and functional recovery. Using middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), young (3 months) and aged (18 months) rats were assessed for BBB disruption at 20min post-MCAO, and 24h post-MCAO with tissue plasminogen activator induced reperfusion at 120min. Results showed that BBB disruptions in aged rats occurred early and increased nearly two-fold at both the 20min and 24h time points when compared to young animals.

Streptozotocin-induced diabetes progressively increases blood-brain barrier permeability in specific brain regions in rats.

This study investigated the effects of streptozotocin-induced diabetes on the functional integrity of the blood-brain barrier in the rat at 7, 28, 56, and 90 days, using vascular space markers ranging in size from 342 to 65,000 Da. We also examined the effect of insulin treatment of diabetes on the formation and progression of cerebral microvascular damage and determined whether observed functional changes occurred globally throughout the brain or within specific brain regions. Results demonstrate that streptozotocin-induced diabetes produced a progressive increase in blood-brain barrier permeability to small molecules from 28 to 90 days and these changes in blood-brain barrier permeability were region specific, with the midbrain most susceptible to diabetes-induced microvascular damage.