The Interaction of Race/Ethnicity and Mental Health Problems on Visitation in State Correctional Facilities

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between mental health problems and visitation for prison inmates. Logistic regression analyses indicated that inmates with mental health problems have lower odds of visitation. Interaction effects indicated that visitation for Hispanic inmates differed depending upon whether inmates reported mental health problems. Hispanic males reporting a history of mental health problems had increased probabilities of visitation compared to Blacks and Whites. Hispanic females who reported symptoms of psychotic disorder had decreased probabilities of visitation compared to Blacks and Whites. Disparities in visitation by mental health status for Hispanic inmates are partly explained by cultural expectations and gender roles.

KEYTERMS:

• Mental health
• race/ethnicity
• visitation
• prison

Acknowledgments

An earlier draft of this manuscript was presented at the 2008 meeting of the Midwest Sociological Society. I would like to thank Dr. Kenneth Ferraro, Dr. Sarah Mustillo, Markus Schafer, and J. David Thomas for comments on previous drafts and Dr. Simon Bauer-Leffler for comments on statistics.

Notes

1. Inmates who had received visitors were also asked how many visitors they had received in the past month. The dichotomous variable of whether or not inmates had received visitors was chosen as the most appropriate variable to use in the model because inmates who receive frequent visitors are generally unique in that their family members live near the prison or have the time and money to visit frequently (Christian, 2005; Comfort, 2008). In addition, using the count of how many visits an inmate had received and using a Poisson regression model was inappropriate because the visits were likely not independent of one another, an assumption of Poisson regression (Long, 1997). In the case of a frequent visitor, those visits were likely to be based on the passage of time between each visit, dependent upon the scheduled visiting days at the prison, how often an inmate is allowed to receive visitors, and other considerations. Because of these issues, the dichotomous measure was utilized in this research.