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Abstract: 

Obesity is now almost universally accepted as a global pandemic, and prison and jail inmates, regardless of country, share the social, environmental, and health characteristics associated with obesity. A recent paper published in the Journal of Obesity, “The Impact of Incarceration on Obesity: Are Prisoners with Chronic Diseases Becoming Overweight and Obese during Their Confinement?” written by Madison L. Gates and Robert K. Bradford, evaluated “the impact that corrections have on offenders, particularly the population that has comorbid diseases, such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes.” The authors conclude that while both men and women gain weight over the course of their incarceration, the causes and effects are different. For women, weight gain may be the result of too little opportunity for exercise; for men, the gain may actually be a sign of the better health care they get inside prison.

Keywords: age, gender, race, education, category of primary offense and security level, incarceration date, height, beginning and ending weight, and chronic disease; BMI

Affiliations:  1: Pace University School of Law.