How police use of force at arrest can lead to greater mental health problems among prison inmates.

In many arrests, police use force to restrain suspects, often when suspects are not resisting. But what are the long-term effects of the use of force on those who are arrested? Benjamin Meade, Benjamin Steiner, and Charles Klahm examine the effects of exposure to police use of force, finding that it is significantly associated with increased mental health problems among prison inmates. Such inmates were more likely to experience a greater number of both manic and depressive symptoms compared to those who were not exposed to violence upon arrest. They write that in light of their findings, police administrators may wish reexamine existing use of force policies, and prison administrators should identify inmates who were exposed to police use of force so that they might be assessed for trauma related needs.