Best way to increase the life expectancy of black men in America? Put them in prison.

Why are black men living longer in prison than out on the streets?

Pretty sad conclusion from a new study of North Carolina inmates, which has determined that black men survive longer in prison than they do outside of prison.

In no way is this a testament to the wonderful and easy life in prison — or maybe it is (?) — free healthcare, three-squares a day, regular physical activity, limited (or at least it supposed to be) use of and exposure to drugs and alcohol…

Rather it’s a sad statement on the cultural lifestyle of a huge percentage of not-yet-incarcerated black men out on the streets, where crime, drugs, gang life, a promiscuous lifestyle (think: AIDS), and poverty have resulted in the lowest life expectancy for men of any racial group in America.

The article contends that the biggest factor in their increased life expectancy in prison is the availability of healthcare. And, if they only had better access to healthcare in the outside world, their life expectancy would be better also.

“What’s very sad about this is that if we are able to all of a sudden equalize or diminish these health inequalities that you see by race inside a place like prison, it should also be that in places like a poor neighborhood we should be able to diminish these sort of inequities,” said Evelyn Patterson, who studies correctional facilities at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

I’m not so sure about that.

Out on the streets, black men are the leading cause of death among young blacks (not lack of health care). Based on a 96 page report on the causes of premature death by the CDC, the leading cause of death among young blacks of both sexes are black men.(http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr56/nvsr56_05.pdf)

Homicide is the leading cause of death among black men aged 15-34 years, which spans three age categories:

For nearly all teenagers, accidents are the most common cause of death, a national study has found.

Yet for black males ages 12 to 19 years old, homicide eclipses accidents as the leading cause of death, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study released Wednesday. That troubling statistic — or, more accurately, the deeper problems underlying it — is garnering some local attention. Advocates say dramatic action is needed.

In other words, the best way to keep young black men from dying early is to lock them up so they can’t kill each other. There is nothing not sad about this.

And the opposite is true for whites, who have a lower life expectancy in prison than out:

The black prisoners seemed to be especially protected against alcohol- and drug-related deaths, as well as lethal accidents and certain chronic diseases.

But that pattern didn’t hold for white men, who on the whole were slightly more likely to die in prison than outside, according to findings published in Annals of Epidemiology.

UPDATE:

SBPDL notes that, “if prison is the safest place for black people, than the most dangerous is the womb.” Ouch (but, true).