Early childhood incarceration is linked to high rates of severe physical and mental health issues in adulthood

When children are placed in juvenile detention centers, jails or prisons before their teenage years, they are much more likely to experience serious physical and mental health issues as adults, according to a new study by UCLA researchers.The UCLA researchers reported that more than 21 percent of people who had been incarcerated as children reported poor general health in adulthood, compared with 13 percent for those incarcerated later in life and 8 percent for those never incarcerated. Thestudy appears in the  International Journal of Prisoner Health.“Those at risk for imprisonment during childhood need special attention from the health care sector,” said Dr. Elizabeth Barnert, principal investigator of the study and an assistant professor of pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “The rates of poor health outcomes amon g people who’ve been incarcerated tell us there’s a huge need for us to take better care of them — both as kids and as adults.”There has been a growing international movement to find alternatives to juvenile incarceration — or the detainment of minors in juvenile halls, probation camps and other juvenile justice facilities — for the youngest offenders. Many countries are raising the minimum age at which adolescents can be incarcerated and are deferring children to other programs for rehabilitation.George Foulsham/UCLAElizabeth Barnert, left, and Laura AbramsResearchers from the Geffen School, UCLA Luskin School of Public...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news