Photo by 826 PARANORMAL, via Flickr

The development of mood-related disorders, such as depression, in prison can have costly effects on an inmate’s fate after release, a new study argues.

Researchers for the study, which is published in this month’s Journal of Health and Social Behavior, used data from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication to examine the link between psychiatric disorders and incarceration.

While many common psychiatric disorders found among inmates and former inmates were developed in childhood, researchers noted a prevalence of mood disorders developed during incarceration.

“Although often neglected as a health consequence of incarceration, mood disorders might explain some of the additional disability former inmates experience following release,” researchers wrote.

Read the abstract HERE or purchase the study HERE.