Abstract

The Incarceration is not considered a social determinant of health (SDH), but further investigation on the topic will prove otherwise. The social determinant of health identified for this paper is being a former incarcerated individual from a low socioeconomic (SES) community and the health outcome is barriers to access to healthcare post-release from jail or prison. While low socioeconomic status is a culture as well as a well-recognized SDH, incarceration is not typically thought of in this way. Therefore, when we couple the culture of low SES and the prison culture, we can see start to think about incarceration as a rather complex SDH.

Keywords: Incarceration; Community; Socioeconomic; Prison culture