Research Project Summary

In the last decade, scholars have increasingly recognized the importance of unpacking the multi-faceted relationships between criminal justice system contact and mental and physical health problems. Traumatic interactions with law enforcement and incarceration experience, for example, harm health. Moreover, health problems (e.g., substance use disorder and other mental health issues) also increase the likelihood of arrests and incarceration. This bi-directional dynamic has an adverse compounding effect on disadvantaged populations, often communities of color that have endured decades of racist policies including residential segregation and disproportionate levels of policing, surveillance, and exposure to carceral systems. All of these can negatively affect morbidity and mortality, as well as jeopardize the chances of success in other critical life domains such as employment, family engagement, and breaking ties with criminal justice and other surveilling institutions. Fortunately, research into the health and social needs among this population can mitigate health and justice-related harms; however, to date the precise issues and protective factors are usually only understood on an anecdotal level.

These issues are pronounced in Camden, highlighting the need for actionable research that can improve policy, practice, and collaboration across health and justice systems and ameliorate inequitable outcomes. Toward this end, we have formed a collaboration between Cooper University Hospital and Rutgers-Camden to administer a survey to patients living within the City. The clinic at Cooper known as “Suite 502” is housed under the Urban Health Institute, a specialized unit that provides care to local underserved patients, many of whom have incarceration histories.

Research Project Goals

Health and racial equity in mind, our overall goal is that the survey can provide a baseline data point that can inform the improvement of services and interventions among Camden residents both within medical and criminal justice settings.

Research Project Objectives

Our team has identified the following research questions that animate our descriptive study: 1. What are the health and social needs of Suite 502 patients and how do these differ among those with arrest and incarceration histories? 2. How are health issues associated with criminal justice system involvement among this specific population? 3. What are the risk and protective factors associated with both poor clinical and justice-system outcomes? 4. Are patients with arrest and incarceration histories less trusting of medical institutions and services? 5. How does contact with the criminal justice system impact patients’ families and their well-being?