The purpose of this study is to further the understanding of the hardships faced by formerly incarcerated individuals by investigating the association between prior incarceration and postrelease food insecurity. Drawing on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), our findings demonstrate that a history of incarceration is associated with an increased likelihood of experiencing food insecurity. This association is found to partially operate through household income, depressive symptoms, marital status, and social isolation. Given the importance of food insecurity in predicting future health outcomes and nutritional behavior, food insecurity may be an important factor in driving health disparities among formerly incarcerated persons.

References

Adler, D. A., McLaughlin, T. J., Rogers, W. H., Chang, H., Lapitsky, L., Lerner, D. ( 2006 ). Job performance deficits due to depression . American Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 1569 - 1576 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Balistreri, K. ( 2012 ). Family structure, work patterns, and time allocations: Potential mechanisms of food insecurity among children (Discussion Paper Series, DP2012-07). University of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research . Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a970/b6401dd1d7dbbed5de24cffafae4dd67485f.pdf

Google Scholar

Besen, E., Young, A. E., Pransky, G. ( 2015 ). Exploring the relationship between age and tenure with length of disability . American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 58, 974 - 987 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Bhattacharya, J., Currie, J., Haider, S. ( 2004 ). Poverty, food insecurity, and nutritional outcomes in children and adults . Journal of Health Economics, 23, 839 - 862 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Binswanger, I. A., Stern, M. F., Deyo, R. A., Heagerty, P. J., Cheadle, A., Elmore, J. G., Koepsell, T. D. ( 2007 ). Release from prison—A high risk of death for former inmates . New England Journal of Medicine, 356, 157 - 165 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Boushey, H., Brocht, C., Gundersen, B., Bernstein, J. ( 2001 ). Hardships in America: The real story of working families. Washington, DC : Economic Policy Institute .

Google Scholar

Brayne, S. ( 2014 ). Surveillance and system avoidance: Criminal justice contact and institutional attachment . American Sociological Review, 79, 367 - 391 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Carson, A. E. ( 2018 ). Prisoners in 2016. Washington, DC : Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice .

Google Scholar

Clear, T. R. ( 2007 ). Imprisoning communities: How mass incarceration makes disadvantaged neighborhoods worse. New York, NY : Oxford University Press .

Google Scholar Crossref

Coleman-Jensen, A., Rabbit, M. P., Gregory, C. A., Singh, A. ( 2017 ). Household food security in the United States in 2016. Washington, DC : Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture .

Google Scholar

Cox, R., Wallace, S. ( 2016 ). Identifying the link between food security and incarceration . Southern Economic Journal, 82, 1062 - 1077 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Desmond, M. ( 2012 ). Disposable ties and the urban poor . American Journal of Sociology, 117, 1295 - 1335 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Fader, J. J. ( 2013 ). Falling back: Incarceration and transitions to adulthood among urban youth. New Brunswick, NJ : Rutgers University Press .

Google Scholar Crossref

Fahmy, C., Wallace, D. ( 2018 ). Incarceration, reentry, and health . In Huebner, B. M., Frost, N. A. (Eds.), Handbook on the consequences of sentencing and punishment decisions (pp. 125 - 141 ). New York, NY : Routledge .

Google Scholar Crossref

Garasky, S., Morton, L. W., Greder, K. A. ( 2006 ). The effects of the local food environment and social support on rural food insecurity . Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition, 1, 83 - 103 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Gooding, H. C., Walls, C. E., Richmond, T. K. ( 2012 ). Food insecurity and increased BMI in young adult women . Obesity, 20, 1896 - 1901 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Gundersen, C., Gruber, J. ( 2001 ). The dynamic determinants of food insufficiency. Washington, DC : Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture .

Google Scholar

Gundersen, C., Kreider, B., Pepper, J. V. ( 2018 ). Reconstructing the supplemental nutrition assistance program to more effectively alleviate food insecurity in the United States . RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 4, 113 - 130 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Gundersen, C., Tarasuk, V., Cheng, J., de Oliveira, C., Kurdyak, P., Dachner, N. ( 2016 ). Food insecurity status and mortality in Ontario, Canada . The FASEB Journal, 30, 273 - 275 .

Google Scholar

Gundersen, C., Ziliak, J. P. ( 2015 ). Food insecurity and health outcomes . Health Affairs, 34, 1830 - 1839 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Gundersen, C., Ziliak, J. P. ( 2018 ). Food insecurity research in the United States: Where we have been and where we need to go . Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 40, 119 - 135 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Hagan, J., Foster, H. ( 2015 ). Mass incarceration, parental imprisonment, and the Great Recession: Intergenerational sources of severe deprivation in America . RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 1, 80 - 107 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Harding, D. J., Wyse, J. J., Dobson, C., Morenoff, J. D. ( 2014 ). Making ends meet after prison . Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 33, 440 - 470 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Harris, A., Evans, H., Beckett, K. ( 2010 ). Drawing blood from stones: Legal debt and social inequality in the contemporary United States . American Journal of Sociology, 115, 1753 - 1799 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Harris, K. M., Halpern, C. T., Whitsel, E., Hussey, J., Tabor, J., Entzel, P., Udry, J. R. ( 2009 ). The national longitudinal study of adolescent health: Research design. Chapel Hill : Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill .

Google Scholar

Heflin, C. M., Corcoran, M. E., Siefert, K. A. ( 2007 ). Work trajectories, income changes, and food insufficiency in a Michigan welfare population . Social Service Review, 81, 3 - 25 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Hickert, A., Tahamont, S., Bushway, S. ( 2018 ). A tale of two margins: Exploring the probabilistic processes that generate prison visits in the first two years of incarceration . Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 34, 691 - 716 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Hipp, J. R., Petersilia, J., Turner, S. ( 2010 ). Parolee recidivism in California: The effect of neighborhood context and social service agency characteristics . Criminology, 48, 947 - 979 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Holben, D. H. ( 2006 ). Position of the American dietetic association: Food insecurity and hunger in the United States . Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 106, 446 - 458 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Huang, J., Guo, B., Kim, Y. ( 2010 ). Food insecurity and disability: Do economic resources matter? Social Science Research, 39, 111 - 124 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Huebner, B. M. ( 2005 ). The effect of incarceration on marriage and work over the life course . Justice Quarterly, 22, 281 - 303 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Iceland, J., Bauman, K. J. ( 2007 ). Income poverty and material hardship: How strong is the association? The Journal of Socio-Economics, 36, 376 - 396 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Jackson, D. B., Newsome, J., Vaughn, M. G., Johnson, K. R. ( 2018 ). Considering the role of food insecurity in low self-control and early delinquency . Journal of Criminal Justice, 56, 127 - 139 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Jackson, D. B., Vaughn, M. G. ( 2017 a). Parental history of disruptive life events and household food insecurity . Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 49, 554 - 560 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Jackson, D. B., Vaughn, M. G. ( 2017 b). Household food insecurity during childhood and adolescent misconduct . Preventive Medicine, 96, 113 - 117 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Jackson, D. B., Vaughn, M. G. ( 2018 ). Promoting health equity to prevent crime . Preventive Medicine, 113, 91 - 94 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Karlson, K. B., Holm, A., Breen, R. ( 2012 ). Comparing regression coefficients between same-sample nested models using logit and probit: A new method . Sociological Methodology, 42, 286 - 313 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Kirkpatrick, S. I., Tarasuk, V. ( 2008 ). Food insecurity is associated with nutrient inadequacies among Canadian adults and adolescents . The Journal of Nutrition, 138, 604 - 612 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Kreider, B., Pepper, J. V. ( 2007 ). Disability and employment: Reevaluating the evidence in light of reporting errors . Journal of the American Statistical Association, 102, 432 - 441 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Laraia, B. A. ( 2013 ). Food insecurity and chronic disease . Advances in Nutrition, 4, 203 - 212 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

La Vigne, N. G . ( 2008 ). Release planning for successful reentry: A guide for corrections, service providers, and community groups. Washington, DC : Urban Institute .

Google Scholar

Ma, X., Liese, A. D., Bell, B. A., Martini, L., Hibbert, J., Draper, C., . . . Jones, S. J. ( 2016 ). Perceived and geographic food access and food security status among households with children . Public Health Nutrition, 19, 2781 - 2788 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Martin, K. S., Rogers, B. L., Cook, J. T., Joseph, H. M. ( 2004 ). Social capital is associated with decreased risk of hunger . Social Science & Medicine, 58, 2645 - 2654 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Massoglia, M. ( 2008 ). Incarceration as exposure: The prison, infectious disease, and other stress-related illnesses . Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 49, 56 - 71 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Massoglia, M., Pridemore, W. A. ( 2015 ). Incarceration and health . Annual Review of Sociology, 41, 291 - 310 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Noonan, K., Corman, H., Reichman, N. E. ( 2016 ). Effects of maternal depression on family food insecurity . Economics & Human Biology, 22, 201 - 215 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

O’Connor, R. C., Connery, H., Cheyne, W. M. ( 2000 ). Hopelessness: The role of depression, future directed thinking and cognitive vulnerability . Psychology, Health & Medicine, 5, 155 - 161 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Pager, D. ( 2003 ). The mark of a criminal record . American Journal of Sociology, 108, 937 - 975 .

Google Scholar Crossref | ISI

Pan, L., Sherry, B., Njai, R., Blanck, H. M. ( 2012 ). Food insecurity is associated with obesity among US adults in 12 states . Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 112, 1403 - 1409 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Park, C. Y., Eicher-Miller, H. A. ( 2014 ). Iron deficiency is associated with food insecurity in pregnant females in the United States: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1999-2010 . Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 114, 1967 - 1973 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Pérez, E., Roncarolo, F., Potvin, L. ( 2017 ). Associations between the local food environment and the severity of food insecurity among new families using community food security interventions in Montreal . Canadian Journal of Public Health, 108, e49 - e55 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Porter, L. C. ( 2014 ). Incarceration and post-release health behavior . Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 55, 234 - 249 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Porter, L. C., Bushway, S. D., Tsao, H. S., Smith, H. L. ( 2016 ). How the US prison boom has changed the age distribution of the prison population . Criminology, 54, 30 - 55 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Porter, L. C., DeMarco, L. M. ( 2019 ). Beyond the dichotomy: Incarceration dosage and mental health . Criminology, 57, 136 - 156 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Porter, L. C., Novisky, M. A. ( 2017 ). Pathways to depressive symptoms among former inmates . Justice Quarterly, 34, 847 - 872 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Ribar, D. C., Hamrick, K. S. ( 2003 ). Dynamics of poverty and food sufficiency. Washington, DC : Economic Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture .

Google Scholar

Sampson, R. J., Loeffler, C. ( 2010 ). Punishment’s place: The local concentration of mass incarceration . Daedalus, 139(3), 20 - 31 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Schnittker, J. ( 2014 ). The psychological dimensions and the social consequences of incarceration . The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 651, 122 - 138 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Schnittker, J., John, A. ( 2007 ). Enduring stigma: The long-term effects of incarceration on health . Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 48, 115 - 130 .

Google Scholar SAGE Journals | ISI

Short, K., Garner, T., Johnson, D., Doyle, P. ( 1999 ). Experimental poverty measures: 1990 to 1997. Washington, DC : U.S. Government Printing Office .

Google Scholar

Siennick, S. E., Stewart, E. A., Staff, J. ( 2014 ). Explaining the association between incarceration and divorce . Criminology, 52, 371 - 398 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Stewart, W. F., Ricci, J. A., Chee, E., Hahn, S. R., Morganstein, D. ( 2003 ). Cost of lost productive work time among US workers with depression . Journal of the American Medical Association, 289, 3135 - 3144 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Tarasuk, V. S. ( 2001 ). Household food insecurity with hunger is associated with women’s food intakes, health and household circumstances . The Journal of Nutrition, 131, 2670 - 2676 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Testa, A. ( 2019 ). Access to healthy food retailers among formerly incarcerated individuals . Public Health Nutrition, 22, 672 - 680 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Testa, A., Jackson, D. B. ( 2019 ). Food insecurity, food deserts, and waist-to-height ratio: Variation by sex and race/ethnicity . Journal of Community Health, 44, 444 - 450 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Travis, J., Western, B., Redburn, F. S. ( 2014 ). The growth of incarceration in the United States: Exploring causes and consequences. Washington, DC : National Academies Press .

Google Scholar

Turney, K. ( 2015 ). Paternal incarceration and children’s food insecurity: A consideration of variation and mechanisms . Social Service Review, 89, 335 - 367 .

Google Scholar Crossref

United States Department of Agriculture . ( 2018 ). 2017 impacts: The expanded food and nutrition education program (EFNEP). Washington, DC : Author .

Google Scholar

Vaughn, M. G., Salas-Wright, C. P., Naeger, S., Huang, J., Piquero, A. R. ( 2016 ). Childhood reports of food neglect and impulse control problems and violence in adulthood . International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(4), Article 389.

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Vozoris, N. T., Tarasuk, V. S. ( 2003 ). Household food insufficiency is associated with poorer health . The Journal of Nutrition, 133, 120 - 126 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Wallace, D. ( 2015 ). Do neighborhood organizational resources impact recidivism? Sociological Inquiry, 85, 285 - 308 .

Google Scholar Crossref

Wang, E. A., Zhu, G. A., Evans, L., Carroll-Scott, A., Desai, R., Fiellin, L. E. ( 2013 ). A pilot study examining food insecurity and HIV risk behaviors among individuals recently released from prison . AIDS Education and Prevention, 25, 112 - 123 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Western, B., Braga, A. A., Davis, J., Sirois, C. ( 2015 ). Stress and hardship after prison . American Journal of Sociology, 120, 1512 - 1547 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Whitaker, R. C., Phillips, S. M., Orzol, S. M. ( 2006 ). Food insecurity and the risks of depression and anxiety in mothers and behavior problems in their preschool-aged children . Pediatrics, 118, e859 - e868 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline | ISI

Wildeman, C., Wang, E. A. ( 2017 ). Mass incarceration, public health, and widening inequality in the USA . The Lancet, 389, 1464 - 1474 .

Google Scholar Crossref | Medline

Wo, J. C., Hipp, J. R., Boessen, A. ( 2016 ). Voluntary organizations and neighborhood crime: A dynamic perspective . Criminology, 54, 212 - 241 .

Google Scholar Crossref