Abstract

This study aimed to explore the impact of COVID-19 on justice-involved African Americans during incarceration and post-release. The study population comprised 25 African American men and women recently released from prison. A qualitative phenomenological approach was employed, and the reflexive thematic analysis process was utilized. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted and imported into NVivo 11 qualitative research software. The analysis revealed four major themes: stress, reentry, substance use, and community adjustment. The findings implied a need for (1) policy creation and revision to prepare jails and prisons for public health crises; (2) more realistic post-release coping strategies to prepare individuals to face post-release obstacles, such as COVID-19, housing, employment, relapse, and social reintegration; (3) improvements in data collection and transparency in disseminating such data to enhance healthcare services in jails and prisons; and (4) additional evidence-based research to address current concerns with data availability, misreporting, reporting delays, testing rate differences, and inconsistencies in population estimates.

摘要

本研究旨在探讨 COVID-19 在监禁期间和释放后对涉及司法的非裔美国人的影响。研究人群包括 25 名最近从监狱释放的非裔美国男性和女性。采用了定性现象学方法，并利用了反身主题分析过程。此外，还进行了半结构化访谈并将其导入 NVivo 11 定性研究软件。分析揭示了四个主要主题：压力、重返社会、物质使用和社区适应。调查结果表明需要 (1) 制定和修订政策，为监狱和监狱应对公共卫生危机做好准备；(2) 更切合实际的出狱后应对策略，让个人做好应对出狱后障碍的准备，例如 COVID-19、住房、就业、旧病复发和重新融入社会；(3) 改进数据收集和传播此类数据的透明度，以加强监狱和监狱的医疗保健服务；(4) 额外的循证研究，以解决当前对数据可用性、误报、报告延迟、检测率差异和人口估计不一致的担忧。