Originally Posted: December 10, 2020
People who have a drug-related felony conviction are more likely to face food insecurity than people who have never been arrested.
That’s what researchers from SMU (Southern Methodist University) and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, found after interviewing more than 1,000 people at North Texas Food Bank food pantries.
The finding is significant because food insecurity – defined as a consistent lack of access to enough food for a healthy life – is known to have a variety of consequences for both children and adults. Children who don’t get the necessary nutrition from food are much more likely to have health- and education-related issues, such as anemia and impaired cognitive development. Adults, meanwhile, are more prone to develop diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses if they don’t get proper nutrients.
“Food insecurity…is a pervasive problem in the United States. A household’s economic resources are clearly a primary contributor to food insecurity, but that is far from the whole story,” said Daniel L. Millimet, co-author of the study and a professor of economics at SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.
Being incarcerated for felony drug offenses made it 20 percent more likely that a person would be classified as being food insecure, compared to people who had never been arrested before, the study revealed. No link to food insecurity was found for people who were incarcerated for non-drug felony offenses. READ MORE