33% of Prisoners Reported a Disability in 2011 - 2012

Introduction

An estimated 32 percent of state and federal prisoners and 40 percent of local jail inmates reported having at least one disability in the 2011-12 National Inmate Survey, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today.

Main Item

Estimates of disabilities include six specific classifications: hearing, vision, cognitive, ambulatory, self-care and independent living.

• A cognitive disability - defined as serious difficulty concentrating, remembering or making decisions - was the most common disability reported by prison and jail inmates. An estimated 19 percent of prisoners and 31 percent of jail inmates reported having a cognitive disability.
• An ambulatory disability was the second most common reported disability, with 10 percent of each population reporting difficulty walking or climbing stairs.

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Prisoners were about three times more likely and jail inmates were about four times more likely than the general population (standardized to match the prison and jail populations by sex, age, race, and Hispanic origin) to report a disability.

• Compared to the general population, prisoners were about four times more likely and jail inmates were about 6.5 times more likely to report a cognitive disability.
• Female prisoners (40 percent) were more likely than male prisoners (31 percent) to report having a disability.
• Similarly, female jail inmates (49 percent) were more likely than male jail inmates (39 percent) to report having a disability.
• Among specific disability types, female prisoners were more likely than male prisoners to report a cognitive disability, but were equally likely to report having each of the other five disabilities.
• Prison and jail inmates of two or more races and white inmates were more likely than blacks to report having at least one disability.
• Among prisoners, 42 percent of persons of two or more races, 37 percent of whites, 28 percent of Hispanics and 26 percent of blacks reported having a disability.
• Among jail inmates, 55 percent of persons of two or more races, 40 percent of whites, 38 percent of Hispanics and 35 percent of blacks reported having a disability.
• Among prisoners with a disability, more than half (54 percent) reported a co-occurring chronic condition, and about a third (32 percent) reported ever having had an infectious disease, including tuberculosis, hepatitis B, hepatitis C or a sexually transmitted infection (excluding HIV).
• A quarter (25 percent) of prisoners with a disability reported serious psychological distress (SPD) during the past 30 days, and nearly a third (31 percent) were obese or morbidly obese.
• More than half (53 percent) of jail inmates with a disability reported a co-occurring chronic condition, and more than a quarter (26 percent) reported ever having had an infectious disease.
• Additionally, 42 percent of jail inmates with a disability reported past 30-day SPD and 24 percent were obese or morbidly obese.
• Prison and jail inmates with a disability were more likely than those without a disability to report a co-occurring chronic condition, ever having had an infectious disease, and past 30-day SPD.
• There were no significant differences in obesity rates between prison and jail inmates with or without a disability.

Other Findings Include

• Independent living, vision, hearing and self-care disabilities each were reported by less than 10 percent of prisoners and jail inmates.
• About 13 percent of prisoners and 16 percent of jail inmates reported having multiple disabilities.
• Prison and jail inmates age 50 or older were more likely than those ages 18 to 24 to report a hearing, vision, ambulatory, self-care and independent living disability, but they were equally likely as those ages 18 to 24 to report a cognitive disability.

Estimates are based on self-reported data from 10 percent of the inmates selected in the BJS 2011-12 National Inmate Survey. A total of 10,259 inmates age 18 or older (4,265 inmates in state and federal prison and 5,994 inmates in jail) completed the disability module.

The report, Disabilities Among Prison and Jail Inmates, 2011-12 (NCJ 249151), was written by Jennifer Bronson and Laura M. Maruschak of BJS, and Marcus Berzofsky of RTI International. The report, related documents and additional information about BJS statistical publications and programs can be found on the BJS website at www.bjs.gov

Similar Topics of Interest

• U.S. Jails Hold More Mentally Ill Persons Than Hospitals: U.S. states such as Texas, Nevada and Arizona have far greater numbers of mentally ill persons housed in state prisons than in hospitals.
• Mentally Ill: Who Goes to Prison? Who Goes to Psych Institutions?: Difference between people with mental illness incarcerated for crime and those declared not criminally responsible and hospitalized at psychiatric institution.
• People with Intellectual Disabilities and the Prison System: Article examines persons with cognitive disabilities as victims or offenders of crime occurring more often than people who do not experience forms of disabilities.
• America, Land of the... Prosecuted: U.S. prisons have filled with more than murderers rapists and violent gang members.
• Majority of NYC Run Psychiatric Hospitals Deny Patients Any Outdoor Access: An investigation revealed patients deprived of all outdoor access at majority of New York City (NYC) run psychiatric hospitals.
• Lack of Mental Health Care in Prisons: Research shows state and federal prisoners are not receiving treatment for mental health conditions.
• The Americans with Disabilities Act and Prison Conditions: Facilities covered by Title II of the ADA including detention and correction facilities are required to make services and programs or activities accessible to people with disabilities.
• How Prison Solitary Confinement Harms People with Physical Disabilities: National report on how solitary confinement harms people with physical disabilities - Wheelchairs, braille materials, hearing aids, and other vital devices often denied in solitary.
• Outlining Need for Accommodations for Prisoners with Disabilities: AVID releases Making Hard Time Harder: Programmatic Accommodations for Inmates with Disabilities Under the Americans with Disabilities Act outlining lack of accommodations for inmates with disabilities.
• Prisons Or Education? Where Should Tax Dollars Be Spent?: United States continues to spend money locking up its citizens while at the same time cutting funding for higher education.
• Childhood Trauma and Women's Health in Prison: Strong likelihood that link between childhood trauma and adult physical and mental health issues greatly more pronounced among female offenders.
• Overcriminalization of People with Disabilities Must Be Addressed in Criminal Justice Reform: Report puts disability issues in perspective within criminal justice reform, highlighting steps to combat inappropriate and unjust incarceration and criminalization of people with disabilities, and ensure appropriate and humane treatment of people with disabilities throughout the justice system.
• Accommodations for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Prisoners: Class action lawsuit in response to systemic discrimination by Illinois Department of Corrections and its failure to provide accommodations to deaf and hard of hearing prisoners.

Attribution/Source(s):

This peer reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World due to its significant relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, and published on 2015/12/15 (Edit Update: 2024/05/09), the content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity. For further details or clarifications, Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs can be contacted at ojp.gov. NOTE: Disabled World does not provide any warranties or endorsements related to this article.

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Cite This Page (APA): Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. (2015, December 15 - Last revised: 2024, May 9). 33% of Prisoners Reported a Disability in 2011 - 2012. Disabled World. Retrieved October 6, 2024 from www.disabled-world.com/disability/statistics/prison-survey.php

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