Incarceration rates and hospital beds per capita: A cross-national study of 36 countries, 1971–2015

Rationale. Incarceration carries several negative ramifications for population health, while diverting scarce resources from other public goods. At a time when health care systems around the world are strained, the current study investigates the long-term relationship between incarceration and health care infrastructure. Objective. We investigated the longitudinal association between incarceration rates and hospital beds per capita for 36 countries between 1971 and 2015. Method. Fixed effects regression analyses were employed to examine the effect of within-country changes in incarceration rates on hospital beds per capita. Results. Findings demonstrated that increases in national incarceration rates over time were associated with declines in hospital beds per capita, net of controls for socio-demographic and economic factors. Conclusions. Increased incarceration negatively impacts hospital bed availability at the cross-national level.