Prisoners

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant public health concern, particularly within prison settings, where the confluence of adverse health factors and high-risk behaviors contribute to a heightened risk of transmission. This study delves into the perspectives of medical doctors, regarding the implementation of the 2014 TB protocol in Portugal. METHODS: The study has a qualitative, descriptive design. Individual semi-structured interviews with medical doctors from TB outpatient centers in Porto and Lisbon were used for data collection...

PURPOSE: Identifying predictors of opioid overdose following release from prison is critical for opioid overdose prevention. METHODS: We leveraged an individually linked, state-wide database from 2015-2020 to predict the risk of opioid overdose within 90 days of release from Massachusetts state prisons. We developed two decision tree modeling schemes: a model fit on all individuals with a single weight for those that experienced an opioid overdose and models stratified by race/ethnicity...

This article examines Thomas Hobbes's notorious claim that "fear and liberty are consistent" and therefore that agreements coerced by threat of violence are binding. This view is to a surprising extent inherited from Aristotle, but its political implications became especially striking in the wake of the English Civil War, and Hobbes recast his theory in far-reaching ways between his early works and Leviathan to accommodate it. I argue that Hobbes's account of coercion is both philosophically safe from the most common objections to it and politically superior to the seemingly commonsensical alternatives that we have inherited from Hobbes's critics...

AIMS AND METHOD: This study aimed to develop and articulate a logic model and programme theories for implementing a new cognitive-behavioural suicide prevention intervention for men in prison who are perceived to be at risk of death by suicide. Semi-structured one-to-one interviews with key stakeholders and a combination of qualitative analysis techniques were used to develop programme theories. RESULTS: Interviews with 28 stakeholders resulted in five programme theories, focusing on: trust, willingness and engagement; readiness and ability; assessment and formulation; practitioner delivering the 'change work' stage of the intervention face-to-face in a prison environment; and practitioner training, integrating the intervention and onward care...

Medical assistance in dying (MAiD) (which includes euthanasia and assisted suicide) is available in an increasing number of countries. In Belgium, The Netherlands and Switzerland (and was due to be implemented in Canada from 2024) eligibility includes mental suffering in the absence of any physical disorder. There are particular ethical and legal issues when considering MAiD for those involuntarily detained in prisons and hospitals. We describe four recent cases that illustrate these complexities, and highlight issues of equivalence of healthcare and self-determination against concerns about the criteria for determining eligibility of those with non-terminal conditions as well as the objections raised by victims and families and the demands for justice...

INTRODUCTION: Studies on human T-lymphotropic virus 1/2 (HTLV-1/2) infection are scarce in incarcerated population. Therefore, this study estimated the prevalence of HTLV-1/2 infection among prisoners of the major penitentiary complex of Goiás State, Central-West Brazil, comparing it with available data from other Brazilian regions. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 910 prisoners of the major penitentiary complex in the State of Goiás, Central-West Brazil...

Illegal amphetamine is usually composed of a racemic mixture of the two enantiomers (S)- and (R)-amphetamine. When amphetamine is used in medical treatment, however, the more potent (S)-amphetamine enantiomer is used. Enantiomer specific analysis of (S)- and (R)-amphetamine is therefore used to separate legal medical use from illegal recreational use. The aim of the present study was to describe our experience with enantiomer specific analysis of amphetamine in urine and oral fluid, as well as blood, and examine whether the distribution of the two enantiomers seems to be the same in the different matrices...

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) has set a goal to eliminate hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection by 2030, including a 90% reduction of HCV incidence. With the introduction of a needle syringe program (NSP) in Stockholm, Sweden, and unrestricted availability of direct acting antiviral (DAA) treatment, we investigate the change of prevalence and incidence of HCV infection among people who inject drugs (PWID) over time. METHODS: All persons attending the Stockholm NSP 2013-2021 (n=4,138) were included...

Antimicrobial resistance is a global threat that inequitably affects minoritized populations, including Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people-especially in carceral settings-and is largely driven by inappropriate antimicrobial prescribing practices. People whose identities are minoritized are more likely to be incarcerated, and people who are incarcerated experience higher disease risk than people who are not incarcerated. This article draws on a case of dental infection suffered by a woman who is incarcerated to consider key ethical and clinical complexities of antimicrobial prescribing in carceral settings...

The fundamental right to equivalence of health care in prison settings encompasses the provision of medication to address mental health conditions. Considering the increased risk for self-harm among individuals dealing with depression, the limited effectiveness of conservative antidepressants is a major challenge in psychiatry. The high prevalence of suicidal tendencies within prison populations underscores the imperative for state-of-the-art pharmacological treatment to uphold adequate health care standards...

Australia has been widely condemned for its harsh and comprehensive external border controls that seek to control the inward mobility of would-be asylum seekers through visa denial, interdiction and offshore detention. Less widely discussed is the fact that internal controls have been repeatedly ramped up over the past two decades. This includes the administrative removal of lawfully-present non-citizens following visa cancellation on character grounds under s501 of the Migration Act 1958 (Cth). Automatic visa cancellation was introduced in 2014 for non-citizens sentenced to a prison term of 12  months or more, or for certain offences, bypassing individualised decision-making and raising the spectre of a visa cancellation pipeline feeding a highly automated deportation machinery...

BACKGROUND: The growing and ageing prison population in England makes accurate cancer data of increasing importance for prison health policies. This study aimed to compare cancer incidence, treatment, and survival between patients diagnosed in prison and the general population. METHODS: In this population-based, matched cohort study, we used cancer registration data from the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service in England to identify primary invasive cancers and cervical cancers in situ diagnosed in adults (aged ≥18 years) in the prison and general populations between Jan 1, 1998, and Dec 31, 2017...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Substance use disorders are highly prevalent in people within the criminal justice system. Psychological programs are the most common type of treatment available and have been shown to decrease recidivism, but dropping out of treatment is common. Risk factors associated with treatment dropout remain unclear in this setting, and whether the risk factors differ by treatment form (group-based vs. individual). METHODS: Outcome (treatment dropout) was defined as not finishing the program due to client's own wish, misbehavior, no-shows, or because program leader found client to be unsuitable...

OBJECTIVE: Individuals with psychiatric disorders are incarcerated at disproportionately high rates and often have low educational attainment. Access to psychiatric and education services within prisons has been described as inadequate, but recent data are lacking. The authors sought to assess the association of psychiatric disorders with both educational attainment before incarceration and access to psychiatric and education services during incarceration. METHODS: Data were from the 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates, a national survey of adults incarcerated in U...

AIMS: Given the high prevalence of oral health problems among prisoners, the goal of this systematic review is to provide a better knowledge of the scope of this problem. METHODS: Electronic searches of PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, and Google Scholar were performed. Studies that investigated inmates aged 18 or older with oral health problems were eligible. Variables reported in four or less studies were described narratively. Conversely, for variables reported in more than four studies, a meta-analysis was performed using random effect model...

Community correction institutions in China frequently employ the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) and the health survey brief (SF-12) as primary tools for psychological assessment of community correctional prisoners. However, in practical application, the SCL-90 Checklist faces issues such as complex item numbers, overall low cultural level of the subjects, and insufficient professional level of the administrators. The SF-12 health survey brief, as a preliminary screening tool, although only has 12 questions, to some extent simplifies the evaluation process and improves work efficiency, it is prone to missed screening...

Objective: Consequences of imprisonment include negative psychological effects, social stigma, and challenges for reintegrating into society. In this regard, this study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) on self-control and impulsivity among male prisoners. Method : A randomized controlled clinical trial (RCT) utilizing a design the included pretest, post-test, and follow-up assessment as well as a waiting-list control group was conducted. A total of 30 male prisoners were selected using convenience sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and waiting list control groups (the intervention group (n = 15) and the control group (n = 15))...

A person-centered approach to advance care planning is recognized as a fundamental need, yet its routine implementation remains a challenge across disparate settings, such as prisons. The purpose of this study was to gain the perspectives of people who are incarcerated about advance care planning. Four focus groups were conducted with people living in 1 men's and 1 women's state prison (n = 26). Handwritten field notes were taken, transcribed, deidentified, and verified before the completion of independent thematic analysis by 2 experienced qualitative researchers...

This article describes key findings from a UK/U.S. prison health researcher exchange in September 2023. The aims were to increase familiarity with the research context and to observe the roles of peer caregivers in U.S. prison settings. The researchers identified several differences and similarities in peer caregiving between UK and U.S. sites and detail six recommendations related to policy and practice concerning both sides of the Atlantic. It is believed that the adoption of such recommendations will contribute to improved care and, thereby, the health and well-being of vulnerable people incarcerated in prison...