Changes in Jail Admissions Before and After Traumatic Brain Injury

Abstract

Objectives: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is differentially concentrated within incarcerated populations. Despite the consistency of this observation, the timing of within-individual changes in criminal justice contact in relation to TBI remains under-investigated. For example, previous studies have primarily considered TBI as a causal influence of later criminal justice contact.However, TBI may also serve as a consequence of criminal justice contact or a criminogenic lifestyle. The current study simultaneously observes both possibilities by examining criminal justice contact before, around the time of, and after the first reported TBI.Methods: Drawing from a combination of self-report and lifetime official record data from a jail cohort admitted between February 2017 and September 2017 and who sustained their first reported TBI at age 21 or older (N = 531), the current study examines jail admissions in the 24 months before and 24 months after the first reported TBI and across eight biannual intervals (N = 4,248 person-periods).Results: Any and misdemeanor admissions slightly increased pre-TBI and continued to increase around the time of and following TBI, never returning to pre-TBI levels. Felony admissions remained stable around the time of injury and increased post-TBI. Further analyses that incorporated a comparison group revealed that these patterns are unique to the TBI group and not a result of a larger systematic process.Conclusions: These findings indicate that the probability of jail admission is greatest post-TBI, but also increases leading up to sustaining a TBI.

Traumatic brain injury and mental health outcomes among recently incarcerated men

“…A lack of these positive reentry indicators may elevate the potential for reoffending or returning to prison (Fahmy, 2021; Link et al., 2019; Williams et al., 2018). Although previous research has examined the prevalence of TBI among incarcerated or formerly incarcerated populations, particularly in jails (Flatt et al., 2017; Gafford et al., 2015; Graves et al., 2015; Kaba et al., 2014; Schwartz et al., 2022), our study includes data on the lifetime prevalence of head injury within a representative prison population as they reenter society. The aim of the current study was to expand upon the extant literature by providing the first assessment of the association between a history of head injury and several mental health problems in a cohort of men recently released from prison.…”