Dataset Information

Prison Population Reductions and COVID-19: A Latent Profile Analysis Synthesizing Recent Evidence From the Texas State Prison System.

ABSTRACT: People in prison are particularly vulnerable to infectious disease due to close living conditions and the lack of protective equipment. As a result, public health professionals and prison administrators seek information to guide best practices and policy recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using latent profile analysis, we sought to characterize Texas prisons on levels of COVID-19 cases and deaths among incarcerated residents, and COVID-19 cases among prison staff. This observational study was a secondary data analysis of publicly available data from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TBDJ) collected from March 1, 2020, until July 24, 2020. This project was completed in collaboration with the COVID Prison Project. We identified relevant profiles from the data: a low-outbreak profile, a high-outbreak profile, and a high-death profile. Additionally, current prison population and level of employee staffing predicted membership in the high-outbreak and high-death profiles when compared with the low-outbreak profile. Housing persons at 85% of prison capacity was associated with lower risk of COVID-19 infection and death. Implementing this 85% standard as an absolute minimum should be prioritized at prisons across the USA.

SUBMITTER: Vest N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7747775 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Prison Population Reductions and COVID-19: A Latent Profile Analysis Synthesizing Recent Evidence From the Texas State Prison System.

Vest Noel N Johnson Oshea O Nowotny Kathryn K Brinkley-Rubinstein Lauren L

Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 20201218 1

People in prison are particularly vulnerable to infectious disease due to close living conditions and the lack of protective equipment. As a result, public health professionals and prison administrators seek information to guide best practices and policy recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using latent profile analysis, we sought to characterize Texas prisons on levels of COVID-19 cases and deaths among incarcerated residents, and COVID-19 cases among prison staff. This observational s ...[more]

PMID: 33337529

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Project description:ObjectivesTo estimate the prevalence of HCV-infection and identify associated factors among inmates in the State Prison System of Guanajuato in Mexico (Sep-2011 to Feb-2012).MethodsCross-sectional, observational study in 10 prisons in the State of Guanajuato in Mexico (2011-2012). We offered HCV-testing and applied audio computer-assisted self-interviews to all adults imprisoned in the State Prison System. We used a complex survey analysis to estimate the distribution of variables and its corresponding 95% confidence intervals, taking into consideration the expected cluster effect by common characteristics within prisons. Inverse probability weights were applied to correct potential biased estimates arising from non-participation in accrual activities and non-response rates. We fitted multivariate logistic regression models to identify risk-behaviors associated to HCV-infection.ResultsWe included data of 2,519 participating inmates. Prevalence of HCV-infection was 4.9 (95%CI = 3.6-5.9). Most HCV-infected inmates were male (99%). Before being incarcerated, inmates with HCV-infection were more frequently tattooed, used and injected drugs more frequently, and were more likely to share materials for injecting, when compared with those non-infected. During incarceration, HCV-infected inmates got tattoos and used drugs more often than non-infected, including injecting-drugs and sharing materials. Injecting-drug use (OR = 7.6, 95%CI, 2.5-23.4), sharing materials for injecting-drugs (OR = 19.6, 95%CI, 4.7-81.7) and being tattooed at least once before incarceration (OR = 2.1, 95%CI, 1.1-3.9), but not during incarceration, were independently associated to HCV-infection.ConclusionsThe prevalence of HCV-infection among inmates in the State of Guanajuato in Mexico is considerably higher than in the general population. The most important risk factors for HCV in this inmate population were injecting-drugs and sharing materials for injections before incarceration. High-risk behaviors during imprisonment are very high particularly among those already infected. HCV diagnostic and treatment services, and harm-reduction programs for incarcerated injecting-drug users in Mexico should be integrated to control the HCV epidemic in Mexico.

Project description:Correctional institutions nationwide are seeking to mitigate Covid-19-related risks. To quantify changes to California's prison population since the pandemic began and identify risk factors for Covid-19 infection. We described residents' demographic characteristics, health status, Covid-19 risk scores, room occupancy, and labor participation. We used Cox proportional hazard models to estimate the association between rates of Covid-19 infection and room occupancy and out-of-room labor, respectively. California state prisons (March 1-October 10, 2020). Residents of California state prisons. Changes in the incarcerated population's size, composition, housing, and activities. For the risk factor analysis, the exposure variables were room type (cells vs dormitories) and labor participation (any room occupant participating in the prior 2 weeks) and the outcome variable was incident Covid-19 case rates. The incarcerated population decreased 19.1% (119,401 to 96,623) during the study period.On October 10, 2020, 11.5% of residents were aged ≥60, 18.3% had high Covid-19 risk scores, 31.0% participated in out-of-room labor, and 14.8% lived in rooms with ≥10 occupants. Nearly 40% of residents with high Covid-19 risk scores lived in dormitories. In 9 prisons with major outbreaks (6,928 rooms; 21,750 residents), dormitory residents had higher infection rates than cell residents (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR], 2.51 95%CI, 2.25-2.80) and residents of rooms with labor participation had higher rates than residents of other rooms (AHR, 1.56; 95%CI, 1.39-1.74). Inability to measure density of residents' living conditions or contact networks among residents and staff. Despite reductions in room occupancy and mixing, California prisons still house many medically vulnerable residents in risky settings. Reducing risks further requires a combination of strategies, including rehousing, decarceration, and vaccination. Horowitz Family Foundation; National Institute on Drug Abuse; National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship; Open Society Foundations.

Project description:ObjectiveUse of research evidence in public health decision making can be affected by organizational supports. Study objectives are to identify patterns of organizational supports and explore associations with research evidence use for job tasks among public health practitioners.DesignIn this longitudinal study, we used latent class analysis to identify organizational support patterns, followed by mixed logistic regression analysis to quantify associations with research evidence use.SettingThe setting included 12 state public health department chronic disease prevention units and their external partnering organizations involved in chronic disease prevention.ParticipantsChronic disease prevention staff from 12 US state public health departments and partnering organizations completed self-report surveys at 2 time points, in 2014 and 2016 (N = 872).Main outcome measuresLatent class analysis was employed to identify subgroups of survey participants with distinct patterns of perceived organizational supports. Two classify-analyze approaches (maximum probability assignment and multiple pseudo-class draws) were used in 2017 to investigate the association between latent class membership and research evidence use.ResultsThe optimal model identified 4 latent classes, labeled as "unsupportive workplace," "low agency leadership support," "high agency leadership support," and "supportive workplace." With maximum probability assignment, participants in "high agency leadership support" (odds ratio = 2.08; 95% CI, 1.35-3.23) and "supportive workplace" (odds ratio = 1.74; 95% CI, 1.10-2.74) were more likely to use research evidence in job tasks than "unsupportive workplace." The multiple pseudo-class draws produced comparable results with odds ratio = 2.09 (95% CI, 1.31-3.30) for "high agency leadership support" and odds ratio = 1.74 (95% CI, 1.07-2.82) for "supportive workplace."ConclusionsFindings suggest that leadership support may be a crucial element of organizational supports to encourage research evidence use. Organizational supports such as supervisory expectations, access to evidence, and participatory decision making may need leadership support as well to improve research evidence use in public health job tasks.

Dataset Information

Prison Population Reductions and COVID-19: A Latent Profile Analysis Synthesizing Recent Evidence From the Texas State Prison System.

Publications

Prison Population Reductions and COVID-19: A Latent Profile Analysis Synthesizing Recent Evidence From the Texas State Prison System.

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