The Effects of Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder on Prison Adjustment and Recidivism among Military Veterans: Evidence from Minnesota

The prevalence of, and link between, mental health disorders—such as traumatic brain injury (TBI) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)—and antisocial behavior is well-documented among the military veteran population. Studies also show that TBI and PTSD account for variation in prison-based and re-entry outcomes. Despite this body of research, comparatively fewer studies have explicitly focused on how these factors affect prison adjustment for inmates with prior military experience. We used administrative data provided by the Minnesota Department of Corrections (MnDOC) and employed a series of survival analyses to examine how prior diagnoses of TBI and PTSD (among other risk factors) influence metrics of institutional adjustment and recidivism among a sample of military veterans. Our results indicate that the effects of TBI, PTSD, and other indicators of criminogenic risk are relevant when examining the experiences of justice-involved military veterans—especially with respect recidivism-based outcomes. The implications of our results are discussed and directions for future research are given.