Johanna Crane examines the devastating health effects of incarceration in US prisons, which dramatically deteriorate rates of physical and mental well-being, constituting what she calls a “slow death” by imprisonment. Crane’s research finds that imprisoned people refer to themselves as “being institutionalized”—“a biopsychosocial state” of anxiety that has long-term bodily and mental impact. Crane concludes by arguing that looking at prison through a public health lens is important but must not detract attention from the structural reasons for mass incarceration and how to address them.
