IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v388y2026ics0277953625009979.html

Population health and the carceral continuum: A narrative review

Author

Listed:
  • Ameen, Khadijah
  • Dsouza, Nishita
  • Flores, Yesnely
  • Rao, Nikhil
  • Talwar-Hebert, Maya
  • Tan, Michelle
  • Waltz, Zoe

Abstract

Mass incarceration in the US constitutes only one facet of a larger carceral network. Key carceral logics such as punishment, policing, surveillance, pathologization, and confinement have become integral components in immigration and human services provision. Though the criminal legal system's public health impact has been widely studied at the individual level, the body of work concerning the community-level health consequences of this expanded carceral continuum is more nascent. This narrative review aims to synthesize existing quantitative research examining the carceral system's effects on community health, contextualized within theoretical literature stemming from the humanities and social sciences.

Suggested Citation

  • Ameen, Khadijah & Dsouza, Nishita & Flores, Yesnely & Rao, Nikhil & Talwar-Hebert, Maya & Tan, Michelle & Waltz, Zoe, 2026. "Population health and the carceral continuum: A narrative review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 388(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:388:y:2026:i:c:s0277953625009979
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118666
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953625009979
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118666?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erin R. Hamilton & Jo Mhairi Hale & Robin Savinar, 2019. "Immigrant Legal Status and Health: Legal Status Disparities in Chronic Conditions and Musculoskeletal Pain Among Mexican-Born Farm Workers in the United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(1), pages 1-24, February.
    2. Geronimus, A.T. & Hicken, M. & Keene, D. & Bound, J., 2006. ""Weathering" and age patterns of allostatic load scores among blacks and whites in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 96(5), pages 826-833.
    3. Williams, Yasin A. & Fertig, Angela R. & Trofholz, Amanda C. & Kunin-Batson, Alicia & Berge, Jerica M., 2024. "Community and household-level incarceration and its association with mental health in a racially/ethnically diverse sample of families," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 352(C).
    4. Alicia Herreros-Fraile & Rodrigo J. Carcedo & Antonio Viedma & Victoria Ramos-Barbero & Noelia Fernández-Rouco & Pilar Gomiz-Pascual & Consuelo del Val, 2023. "Parental Incarceration, Development, and Well-Being: A Developmental Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-44, February.
    5. Das, Abhery & Singh, Parvati & Kulkarni, Anju K. & Bruckner, Tim A., 2021. "Emergency Department visits for depression following police killings of unarmed African Americans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 269(C).
    6. Eric Reinhart & Daniel L. Chen, 2021. "Carceral-community epidemiology, structural racism, and COVID-19 disparities," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118(21), pages 2026577118-, May.
    7. Hatzenbuehler, M.L. & Keyes, K. & Hamilton, A. & Uddin, M. & Galea, S., 2015. "The collateral damage of mass incarceration: Risk of psychiatric morbidity among nonincarcerated residents of high-incarceration neighborhoods," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 105(1), pages 138-143.
    8. Riley, Taylor & Schleimer, Julia P. & Jahn, Jaquelyn L., 2024. "Organized abandonment under racial capitalism: Measuring accountable actors of structural racism for public health research and action," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 343(C).
    9. Darcey H. Merritt, 2020. "How Do Families Experience and Interact with CPS?," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 692(1), pages 203-226, November.
    10. Bisola O Ojikutu & Sumeeta Srinivasan & Laura M Bogart & S V Subramanian & Kenneth H Mayer, 2018. "Mass incarceration and the impact of prison release on HIV diagnoses in the US South," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(6), pages 1-11, June.
    11. Frank, J.W. & Hong, C.S. & Subramanian, S.V. & Wang, E.A., 2013. "Neighborhood incarceration rate and asthma prevalence in New York city: A multilevel approach," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(5), pages 38-44.
    12. Eric Reinhart & Daniel L. Chen, 2021. "Carceral-community epidemiology, structural racism, and COVID-19 disparities," Post-Print hal-03507576, HAL.
    13. Haile, Rahwa & Rowell-Cunsolo, Tawandra & Hyacinthe, Marie-Fatima & Alang, Sirry, 2023. "“We (still) charge genocide”: A systematic review and synthesis of the direct and indirect health consequences of police violence in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Santos, Mateus Rennó & Testa, Alexander & Weiss, Douglas B. & Jackson, Dylan B., 2022. "County jail incarceration rates and food hardship in the United States," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    2. Erin R. Hamilton & Caitlin Patler & Robin Savinar, 2022. "Immigrant Legal Status Disparities in Health Among First- and One-point-five-Generation Latinx Immigrants in California," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 41(3), pages 1241-1260, June.
    3. Sirois, Catherine, 2020. "The strain of sons' incarceration on mothers’ health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    4. Hill, Terrence D. & Ellison, Christopher G. & Burdette, Amy M. & Taylor, John & Friedman, Katherine L., 2016. "Dimensions of religious involvement and leukocyte telomere length," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 168-175.
    5. Mullahy, John, 2024. "Analyzing health outcomes measured as bounded counts," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    6. Brown, Laura J & Sear, Rebecca, 2020. "Do parenting, reproductive and health traits cluster together in distinct trajectories? Evidence from two UK cohort studies," OSF Preprints r8jvw, Center for Open Science.
    7. Touma, Fatima & Hummer, Robert A., 2022. "Race/ethnicity, immigrant generation, and physiological dysregulation among U.S. adults entering midlife," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    8. Lee, Shih-Yu & Hsu, Hui-Chin, 2012. "Stress and health-related well-being among mothers with a low birth weight infant: The role of sleep," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(7), pages 958-965.
    9. Ryan Masters & Robert Hummer & Daniel Powers & Audrey Beck & Shih-Fan Lin & Brian Finch, 2014. "Long-Term Trends in Adult Mortality for U.S. Blacks and Whites: An Examination of Period- and Cohort-Based Changes," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(6), pages 2047-2073, December.
    10. Doherty, Elaine E. & Green, Kerry M. & Bugbee, Brittany A., 2024. "From one death to another: The relationship between familial deaths and one’s own mortality risk among an urban Black American cohort," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 363(C).
    11. Carla Brailey & Brittany C. Slatton, 2024. "Centering Black Women’s Voices: Illuminating Systemic Racism in Maternal Healthcare Experiences," Societies, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-12, May.
    12. Johnson, Amber J. & Sims, Mario & Okundolor, Chelsea & James, Sherman A. & Kirby, Katharine A., 2025. "Discrimination, chronic stress, and cardiovascular health among African American men and women in the Jackson Heart Study: A cross-sectional study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 383(C).
    13. Danielle Shaked & Zachary B Millman & Danielle L Beatty Moody & William F Rosenberger & Hui Shao & Leslie I Katzel & Christos Davatzikos & Rao P Gullapalli & Stephen L Seliger & Guray Erus & Michele K, 2019. "Sociodemographic disparities in corticolimbic structures," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(5), pages 1-21, May.
    14. Gruenewald, Tara L. & Karlamangla, Arun S. & Hu, Perry & Stein-Merkin, Sharon & Crandall, Carolyn & Koretz, Brandon & Seeman, Teresa E., 2012. "History of socioeconomic disadvantage and allostatic load in later life," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 75-83.
    15. Lalayants, Marina & Saitadze, Inga, 2025. "Separation and psychosocial challenges of parents with children in foster care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    16. Davillas, Apostolos & Pudney, Stephen, 2020. "Using biomarkers to predict healthcare costs: Evidence from a UK household panel," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    17. Shannon M Lynch & Elizabeth Handorf & Kristen A Sorice & Elizabeth Blackman & Lisa Bealin & Veda N Giri & Elias Obeid & Camille Ragin & Mary Daly, 2020. "The effect of neighborhood social environment on prostate cancer development in black and white men at high risk for prostate cancer," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-18, August.
    18. Emmanuel Obeng-Gyasi & Alesia C. Ferguson & Katherine A. Stamatakis & Michael A. Province, 2021. "Combined Effect of Lead Exposure and Allostatic Load on Cardiovascular Disease Mortality—A Preliminary Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-9, June.
    19. Matthew Jay Lyons & Senaida Fernandez Poole & Ross C. Brownson & Rodney Lyn, 2022. "Place Is Power: Investing in Communities as a Systemic Leverage Point to Reduce Breast Cancer Disparities by Race," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(2), pages 1-13, January.
    20. Burnson, Cynthia & Gandarilla Ocampo, María & Harris, Elizabeth & McClure, Senia & Malloy, Mike, 2025. "Evaluating the impact of Family Visit Coaching on future system contact," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:388:y:2026:i:c:s0277953625009979. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.