An Intersectional Analysis of Perceptions of Race in U.S. Prisons From Individuals Previously Incarcerated With Mental Illness

• Published date: 01 September 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00938548241245719
• Author: Anthony Banks,Kelli E. Canada,Stacy Barrenger,Casey Bohrman,Anna Cox
• Date: 01 September 2024
• Subject Matter: Articles

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2024, Vol. 51, No. 9, September 2024, 1358 –1377.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/00938548241245719

Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions

© 2024 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology

1358

AN INTERSECTIONAL ANALYSIS OF

PERCEPTIONS OF RACE IN U.S.

PRISONS FROM INDIVIDUALS

PREVIOUSLY INCARCERATED WITH MENTAL

ILLNESS

ANTHONY BANKS

KELLI E. CANADA

University of Missouri–Columbia

STACY BARRENGER

Northeast Ohio Medical University

CASEY BOHRMAN

West Chester University

ANNA COX

University of Missouri–Columbia

Despite efforts to reduce the number of people in the United States living in prison, people with mental illnesses continue to

be overrepresented in prisons. This study explores how race impacts the prison experiences of individuals with mental ill-

nesses. Thirty-seven participants were recruited from three states via flyers at community treatment providers and through

word of mouth. Participants completed in-depth, semi-structured interviews and surveys to understand prison experiences and

collect demographic information. Data analyses included descriptive statistics, framework method analysis, and an intersec-

tional lens. Findings show that participant experiences were influenced by race through interpersonal interactions between

those incarcerated and through interactions between people incarcerated and correctional staff. Intersectional identities

underlying these interactions were explored including race, socioeconomic status, rural versus urban residents, and subordi-

nate/dominant roles tied to power (e.g., staff vs. person incarcerated). These findings provide insight into how race, mental

illness, and criminal-legal contact intersect.

Keywords: race; ethnicity; prison; mental illness; intersectionality

In 2022, the United States continued to have the world’s highest incarceration rate with

573 per 100,000 people living in custody (Sawyer & Wagner, 2022). This incarceration

rate disproportionately impacts people of color, people living in poverty, and people

impacted by mental illness (MI) and substance use disorders. When these factors intersect,

incarceration rates increase (Baloch & Jennings, 2019; Ocen, 2013; Wang, 2022). Little

AUTHORS’ NOTE: This work was partially funded through the University of Missouri Research Board.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Anthony Banks, School of Social Work,

University of Missouri–Columbia, Columbia, MO 65201; e-mail: ajbnh9@umsystem.edu.

1245719CJBXXX10.1177/00938548241245719Criminal Justice and BehaviorBanks et al. / INTERSECTIONAL ANALYSIS OF PERCEPTIONS OF RACE

research-article2024

Banks et al. / INTERSECTIONAL ANALYSIS OF PERCEPTIONS OF RACE 1359

research examines the cumulative effect of multiple, intersecting identities on experiences

in prison (Batastini et al., 2022). The research that does exist suggests intersectional identi-

ties involving race, gender, and health can lead to increased discrimination and racism in

prison (Kilty, 2021). Understanding these experiences is important because incarcerated

people are highly subject to systematic injustice (Gilson, 2016). Failing to engage in an

intersectional approach may obscure needs and mask the differential impacts of prison

exposure (Cho et al., 2013). This project used intersectionality as an analytical framework

to explore how previously incarcerated individuals perceive their racial/ethnic identity,

urban/rural demographic identity, and overall positionality within the carceral setting influ-

ences their interactions between fellow incarcerated individuals and correctional staff.

MENTAL DISORDERS AND THE U.S. PRISON SYSTEM

People with MI continue to be overrepresented in the criminal-legal system despite

diversion programs. Prevalence rates of current and lifetime psychiatric disorders are

greater in state prisons compared with community samples (Prins, 2014). People with MI

have longer sentences than individuals without MI and tend to serve their entire sentence

(Comartin et al., 2020; Fellner, 2006). The prison environment has negative impacts on

mental and physical health during and following incarceration (Edgemon & Clay-Warner,

2018; Schnittker & John, 2007). Promoting positive mental health via programming and

services within prisons can help people with MI by increasing access to evidence-based

practices, specialized housing wings, and medications (Edgemon & Clay-Warner, 2018;

Semenza & Grosholz, 2019). Only half of individuals taking medication for MI in the com-

munity continue to receive treatment after entering prison (Gonzalez & Connell, 2014).

Individuals who were previously incarcerated also perceive barriers to accessing mental

health services, poor quality of mental and physical health services, inadequate staffing, and

arduous medical procedures as barriers to receiving mental health care (Canada et al., 2022).

RACE AND THE U.S. PRISON SYSTEM

Racial discrimination is deeply embedded in U.S. history. The social construct of race

has long been used as a tool for segregation and control and to perpetuate false arguments

based on innate biological differences (Bryant et al., 2022; Witzig, 1996). Segregation and

control are demonstrated post-slavery through the lynching of Black bodies as a weapon of

terror, Jim Crow laws in the American South to separate White from Black Americans,

redlining to prevent Black people from acquiring property and accruing wealth, immigra-

tion laws that specifically targeted and prevented Asian immigrants coming into the U.S.,

and mass incarceration (Mirken, 2020; Travieso, 2020). Jails and prisons are the “New Jim

Crow,” and a revision of slavery (Alexander, 2012; Gottlieb & Flynn, 2021; Schoenfeld,

2018). It is well established that people of color are imprisoned at disproportionate rates

compared with people who identify as White (Baloch & Jennings, 2019; Nellis, 2021;

Schnittker et al., 2011). Segregation continues in prison by gender, racial identity, and sex-

ual orientation (Dolovich, 2010; Furst, 2017; Hemmens & Stohr, 2014).

After the Supreme Court deemed racial segregation in prisons unconstitutional in 1968’s

Lee v. Washington, correctional staff found a way around this under the guise of prison

security (Hemmens & Stohr, 2014). Prison populations being segregated by racial/ethnic