Jails and prisons vary widely in their use of restrictive housing, but a significant number of the prisoners in such lockups have mental problems, a federal report says.
Twenty-nine percent of prison inmates and 22 percent of jail inmates with current symptoms of serious psychological distress had spent time in restrictive housing units in the past 12 months, the study says.
Those inmates doing time in restrictive housing from 2011-2012 were from various demographic groups, according to a 2015 survey compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).
The survey was administered to 91,177 inmates age 18 or older, including 38,251 inmates in 233 state and federal prisons and 52,926 inmates in 357 jails. The results are nationally representative of the prison and jail population at the time of the questionnaire.
It shows up to 4.4 percent of state and federal inmates and 2.7 percent of jail inmates were held in restrictive housing, which includes disciplinary, administrative segregation or solitary confinement, during that period. Approximately 10 percent of all prison and 5 percent of jail inmates spent 30 days or longer in restrictive housing.
The statistics show that during the 12-month period, 21 percent of Blacks and 16 percent of Whites spent time in prisons’ restrictive housing. According to the survey, both races spent approximately 17 percent of the time in the county jail hole.
Inmates of other races (American Indians, Alaska Natives, Asians, Native Hawaiians, other Pacific Islanders and those reporting two or more races) were more likely than White inmates to have spent time in restrictive housing. The BJS reported that these groups spent 20 percent of the time in prisons’ hole versus 22 percent in jail,
Hispanics (16 percent in prison and jail) were as likely as Whites in prison and Whites and Blacks in jail to report having spent time in restrictive housing. Lesbian, gay, and bisexuals (28 percent in prison and 22 percent in jail) were more likely than heterosexuals (18 percent in prison and 17 percent in jail) to have spent some time in restrictive housing, the survey said.
Figures also showed that “younger inmates were significantly more likely than older inmates to report having spent time in restrictive housing.” Teenagers age 18 to 19 made up 31 percent of those in prison and 25 percent of those in jail to have spent some time in restrictive housing. Those in the age range of 20 to 24 statistically show 28 percent of those in prison and 23 percent of those in jail had been in restrictive housing at some time during that year.