Color Lines

Published on 13 July 2025 at 00:42

Racial Disparities in Incarceration

Working within the criminal justice system reveals stark racial and ethnic disparities. Well-documented statistics show that Black/African Americans are incarcerated at disproportionately higher rates than their white counterparts, despite representing a minority of the overall population. According to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), the most recent racial breakdown includes: 1.6% (2,447) Asian, 38.3% (59,487) Black, 2.9% (4,578) Native American, and 57.2% (88,797) White.

In Ohio, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction (ODRC) reports the incarcerated population as: 45.7% (20,579) Black, 50.4% (22,700) White, and 3.9% (1,784) Other (ODRC, 2024). These numbers, while informative, may be skewed due to inaccuracies in racial classification or identity preferences influenced by safety concerns.

For example, in an episode of the Ear Hustle podcast titled "Unwritten", guest Philip Melendez—who identifies as both Filipino and Mexican—shared his decision to identify as Asian at prison intake for safety reasons, despite feeling conflicted about distancing himself from his Mexican heritage. This illustrates how racial identity in prison often becomes a strategic and protective choice.

Mental Health and Misdiagnosis

No matter the facility—jail, prison, or reentry center—race plays a significant role in prison dynamics, from politics to resource allocation. Despite aspirations for equitable treatment and resources for all offenders, disparities persist.

In graduate school, we focused heavily on diagnostic assessments, learning how to identify disorders using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). But diagnosing is more than a clinical task; it's a deeply interpretive act that can carry long-lasting consequences.

Research shows that Black youth, particularly males, are more likely to be diagnosed with behavioral disorders like Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD), Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED), and Attention Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) than their white peers (Copeland-Linder et al., 2021; Wong et al., 2024).

This disparity troubled me early in my career in community mental health, but I couldn't fully articulate why. Reflecting now, I see how many of the young boys labeled as "class clowns" or "troublemakers" were often masking trauma behind their behaviors—what was interpreted as defiance was often survival.

Childhood Trauma in Disguise

If I were to retroactively apply my counseling lens to my elementary school peers, I would say the girls exhibited symptoms associated with mood disorders like anxiety and depression, while the boys showed signs of conduct-related issues. However, categorizing based on race, gender, or socioeconomic status overlooks the individual stories behind the symptoms.

Many of those same "bad boys" are now my clients—opening up about histories of sexual abuse, chronic violence, deaths, and substance exposure long before the age of 12. What looked like aggression was often trauma expressed in the only way they knew how.

I often ask clients to imagine the life of a 9-year-old boy holding it together while his mother works two jobs. She comes home exhausted, maybe angry. His father is absent or battling addiction. An older brother might be dealing drugs to make ends meet, or might have already died from gun violence. This child has seen more death than many adults experience in a lifetime—often not in a funeral home, but up close and violent.

Then we ask that same boy to sit still for eight hours, take tests, and follow directions. His nervous system has been in fight-or-flight mode for years. How do we expect him to function in a classroom?

The Cost of Misdiagnosis and Miseducation

When I share this story with clients, it often fosters understanding and compassion—for themselves and others. Many come to see that their behavioral challenges weren’t evidence of moral failure, but responses to trauma. Their actions were attempts to survive in a world that didn't offer them safety.

I explain that even if they were diagnosed with ADHD, ODD, or IED, these conditions might have been shaped—or even caused—by prolonged exposure to trauma. This reframe helps clients understand they aren’t broken, but that something painful happened to them.

Systemic Issues in Correctional Staffing

Unfortunately, prisons reflect broader societal issues in how we address race and mental health. In many facilities, professional roles—teachers, dentists, doctors, counselors—are disproportionately held by white individuals, while security and correctional roles are more often held by minority staff, particularly Black men. This racial stratification can affect how treatment, consequences, and authority are perceived and distributed.

One crucial lesson from my graduate program still resonates: the DSM was constructed based on symptoms as experienced by white, middle-aged males. This means when we use it to assess individuals from different cultural or racial backgrounds, it may fail to capture their lived experiences. For instance, "grandiosity" in a Black male may look differently in someone from a different cultural background, but the DSM does not account for this variability (Williams, in press).

The Role of Advocacy and Education

This is why advocacy and informed care are essential. Families often unintentionally project their own fears and misunderstandings onto their incarcerated loved ones. I've heard statements like, "He don’t need no medication; he just needs to get his 'ish together." But prison is terrifying by design, and for someone with untreated trauma or mental illness, being emotionally stable is nearly impossible.

I urge families to educate themselves about mental health and medication, and to examine their own biases. Some mental health disorders require medication due to chemical imbalances. Others stem from unmet needs, like safety, food, and shelter. Both deserve treatment, not judgment.

Advocating means more than speaking up. It means doing the research, asking difficult questions, and aligning with communities that share a commitment to justice.

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