Posted on 01/21/2007 1:24:04 PM PST by backtothestreets
WASHINGTON (AP) -- State prison inmates, particularly blacks, are living longer on average than people on the outside, the government said Sunday.
Inmates in state prisons are dying at an average yearly rate of 250 per 100,000, according to the latest figures reported to the Justice Department by state prison officials. By comparison, the overall population of people between age 15 and 64 is dying at a rate of 308 a year.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Monks also tend to outlive those in the "real world".
Less risk
Less stress
Less booze
Just less to worry about in general
I'd enjoy my risky and shorter but free life on the outside than a long and boring prison life any day.
These skewered statistics will be used to support socialized medicine.
The biggest factor is auto accidents - the fifth highest cause of death. State inmates have near 0% chance of dying in an auto accident.
An active sex-life increases longevity...
They probably eat better, on average. They have to eat what's given to them. On the aggregate, that probably means better portion sizes and nutrition than the average american would choose. Many of them workout and use the gyms inside. I think the auto accident thing is huge as well.
There is actually plenty of stress in prison.
I bet it is more likely that the average age of the prison population 16 to 64 is younger and probably much younger than the general population 16 to 64. Crime is afterall often a young mans game and inmates tend to be sent to prison at younger ages than they are paroled.
It's actually not due to any of the problems people have listed so far. Inmates just tend to be younger than the general population.
You beat me to it by a minute.
Only the good die young.
No stress, just walk the line. Everything they need is provided for - even cable.
Gives another meaning to getting a life sentence.
Any idea why they used the deaths per 100,000 rather than age at death? Some particular conclusion to which the data needs to fit?
Yep and we were both so terse because it is so obvious.
I think you just nailed it.
What about diet and exercise??
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I know many on death row live longer than their victims.
Sorry, auto accidents are not the fifth highest cause of death. Accidents in general -- a category that includes auto accidents but also falls, workplace accidents and many other causes of death -- are the fifth leading cause of death. Auto accidents kill about 40,000 Americans / year, compared to 650,000 for heart disease, so I don't see that alone being the major factor, although the differential in risk may certainly contribute.
You picked the wrong monastery if "Monks" and "Less booze" go together.
In fact, plentiful wine is one of the few bennies of being a monk!!!
And that is the point- no or less access to substances that tend to shorten life, exercise programs, "3 squares a day", A/C and Heat, not to mention regular health care. Gee - a lot of folks in prison didn't have it anywhere near as good outside the pen...and we wonder why the re-offending rate is so hight.
Another big factor is age adjustment. This study evidently just compared all people ages 15-64 in prison with all those of the same age outside prison. Yet the age distribution of those in prison includes proportionally more younger and presumably healthier individuals than those outside. They should not be dying of age-related diseases, or anything else in most cases.
8% of prison deaths involve homicide or suicide. On the outside, however, CDC data show that these two causes account for only 2% of all deaths.
This study is being reported in tones of wonderment at how safe life is in the hoosegow. I think it shows nothing of the sort. If anything, it shows how much cheaper life is in stir.
Oh, and one last thing. I note that 2% of prison deaths are due to alcohol and drug overdoses. Yet these are contraband in every prison, and this is enforced by frequent warrantless searches of persons and living quarters. Ignorant mouth-breathing fascists (many of them here on FR) who think the War on Drugs is winnable should take note.
-ccm
This study tracked four years of inmate deaths, from 2001 to 2004. There were 12,129 inmate fatalities during that timeframe and so a 250 in 100,000 death rate works out to a total inmate population of 4,851,600 for the purposes of this study.
According to the NTSA, there were 42,836 U.S. traffic fatalites in 2004, 42,643 in 2003, 43,005 in 2002, and 42,116 in 2001, for a total of 170,600 traffic fatalities from 2001 to 2004.
The total U.S. population in this period, according to the Census Bureau, stood at roughly 293,027,571 (this is probably an underestimate). The inmate population therefore made up about 1.65568% of this total.
If this population experienced auto accident death rates equal to the general population then the total number of traffic fatalities from 2001 to 2004 would've been 173,472 - meaning there would've been 2872 traffic fatalities amongst the inmate population.
If these 2872 hypothetical deaths are added to the 12129 actual deaths the total inmate death count would be 15,001 for 2001-2004 inclusive, which would translate to a death rate of 309 out of 100,000.
The general population death rate according to this study was 308 out of 100,000.
Keep in mind also that this probably understates the likely number of inmate deaths because the general population traffic statistics include the entire population, and the rate would be higher if restricted to the 16-64 age group and even more so if it were adjusted to reflect a 90% male population.
I see two problems with your analysis:
1. Inmate around here work in all sorts of jobs. So inmates are on the road constantly in DOC vans going to jobs, being picked up from jobs etc. Plus I bet a few go to court from time to time, are transfered from one correctional facility to another and some inmates are in halfway houses driving on their own, I bet. Certainly inmates don't on average travel the roads as much as noninmates, but it is not zero either.
2. We are not necessarily saying different things as younger groups ie the inmate population probably has a higher auto accident death rate but a lower rate from other things. The population 15-64 which is likely older than the inmate population on average likely has a higher death rate from other causes.
3. If inmate's live a more risky life-style including driving habbits you may have underestimated the traffic deaths that would have happened in the inmate population.
LESS WORK!!!
But then you have to discount the murder rate. With about 16,000 murders in the US annually and prisoners being killed at 4 times the rate of the general population, that more than makes up for the traffic fatalities.
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