Corrections_Today_Winter_2024-2025_Vol.86_No.4

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Humanizing Quality of Sleep for Incarcerated Individuals By Alicia Dixon, Sr. Marketing Coordinator, Chestnut Ridge Foam, Inc.

The significance of adequate sleep is often undervalued, with many unaware of its dire effect on the brain and subsequent human behavior. Incarcerated individuals are some of the most sleep deprived populations due to numerous factors that affect healthy sleep. With medically proven connections between sleep, mental health and behavior, the question arises – would better sleep lead to better inmates, in turn, increasing the potential for offender reform and educational success? If so, what can be done to safely take steps toward achieving this? Insomnia runs rampant within incarceration facilities. Only recently have studies been conducted in attempts to under stand the physical and mental well-being of inmates, inclusive of sleep patterns. A recent systematic review estimated that that 26.2% to 72.5% of inmates had insomnia, and 42.8% to 88.2% of inmates had poor sleep quality. In comparison, esti mates for the general population include a 6%–30% prevalence of insomnia and a 25% to 36% prevalence of poor sleep quality. (Tussey, 2024)

Dealing with these struggles in society comes with its own dif ficulties but inmates suffer greater consequence relative to sleep deprivation. Excessive sleep deficiency in these environments can lead to aggression, poor decisions, self-harm and various negative choices that can significantly affect their incarceration. Within correctional facilities, there are many factors that create difficult conditions for restorative sleep. Clinical characteristics include physical pain, detoxing from substances and mental health. Environmental considerations are known to include general sounds and noise, too much light within a cell, being too cold or hot and an uncomfortable mattress. (Tussey, 2024) While unfortunate, clinical concerns are specific to the incar cerated individual, with support given when physical or mental needs are identified. Environmental aspects come with difficul ties to remedy. However, according to Lauren Robinson, MD, MPH, an adjunct assistant professor of forensic psychiatry at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, simple mea sures can have big impact. “Things like meditation techniques have actually been shown to really help [and] it’s a low-cost way to intervene,” said Robinson. Other items like earplugs, eye masks and improved mattresses are potential ways to signifi cantly improve sleep in this population. (Bonavitacola, 2024) Providing mattresses with appropriate comfort is proving viable and necessary for correctional facilities. Administrators have two basic options for mattress choices: fiber-type mattresses (boric acid-treated cotton, cotton-fiber blends and fire-retardant polyester) or full-depth, fire-resistant foam cushioning mattress es. To provide the necessary support and comfort for extensive daily use, the mattress cushioning requires sufficient resiliency and thickness retention to continuously bounce back and not col lapse to the bed frame. The proper way to quantify cushioning performance is to utilize two ASTM D3574 tests: Dynamic Fatigue and Compres sion Set. The Dynamic Fatigue procedure requires a constant force pounding of 80,000 cycles and measures thickness loss percentage. Height measurements are taken before and after testing to determine thickness loss, after a stated recovery period. (Thickness loss is ideally taken after 24 hours to allow sufficient recovery from repeated force.) In a direct comparison of Dynamic Fatigue testing results, a polyester fiber specimen lost 23.7% in height, while the fire-resistant foam only lost 2.3%. For Compression Set testing, material is compressed for 22 hours, most often at 50% deflection and at 75% deflection. Measurements in this static testing are taken before and after to determine thickness loss. In comparison via this procedure,

Photo by Evgeniy Shkolenko on iStock (Image ID: 1620401146)

The importance of sleep cannot be understated, as during sleep, your body is working to support healthy brain func tion and maintain physical health. It is now proven habitual short sleep duration is associated with greater risk of obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, depression and cardiovascular disease. (Tufts University Health, 2021) Studies also show that sleep deficiency changes activity in some parts of the brain. If you're sleep deficient, you may have trouble making decisions, solving problems, controlling your emotions and behavior and coping with change. Sleep deficiency has also been linked to depression, suicide and risk-taking behavior. (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, 2022)

Corrections Today | Winter 2024-2025

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