STUDY OBJECTIVE The aim was to determine whether clustering of suicide occurred in prisoners and detainees in police cells and to describe the characteristics of any clusters identified. DESIGN Mortality from suicide was examined for evidence of clusters. SETTING Prisons (1971-1988) and police cells (1980-September 1991) in New Zealand. SUBJECTS 82 male suicides. MAIN RESULTS There were...

OBJECTIVE We conducted a retrospective evaluation of bone mineral density data collected during routine medical follow-up evaluations of 241 Vietnam-era male repatriated prisoners of war, with and without the lifetime diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and 79 subjects in a comparison group. METHODS Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans evaluated total hip and lumbar spine T-s...

More than 600,000 prisoners are released from incarceration each year in the United States, and most end up residing in metropolitan areas, clustered within a select few neighborhoods. Likely consequences of this concentration of returning prisoners include higher rates of subsequent crime and recidivism. In fact, one-half of released prisoners return to prison within only 3 y of release. The r...

BACKGROUND Mental illness is common among prisoners, but little evidence exists regarding changes in symptoms in custody over time. AIMS To investigate the prevalence and predictors of psychiatric symptoms among prisoners during early custody. METHOD In a prospective cohort study, 3079 prisoners were screened for mental illness within 3 days of reception. To establish baseline diagnoses and...

The present study assessed problems in Japanese prisoners (inmates) who abused methamphetamine. Fifty-two male inmates were assessed in 2005-2007 using the Addiction Severity Index-Japanese version and compared with 55 male methamphetamine abusers in hospitals and recovery centers. The chi(2) and Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon tests showed that the inmates had a significantly lower education level, more...

Community reintegration of ex-prisoners is an important issue in efforts to reduce recidivism. The present study examined the multiple, complex, and dynamic nature of variables influencing successful reintegration by assessing the type and degree of change in reintegration variables over time. Participants were 79 adult prisoners (54 male, 25 female) who completed a prerelease questionnaire 1 m...

BACKGROUND Ensuring adequate end-of-life care for prisoners is a critical issue. In France, data investigating the impact of laws allowing release of seriously ill prisoners are lacking. AIM To assess the number and characteristics of prisoners requiring palliative care in French prisons. DESIGN A prospective, national survey collecting data over a 3-month period. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS All...

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis (TB) rates among prisoners are more than 20 times that of the general population in Brazil, yet there are limited data available to facilitate the development of effective interventions in this high-transmission setting. We aimed to assess risk factors for TB infection and evaluate the yield of mass screening for active disease among inmates. METHODS We administered a ...

BACKGROUND Despite the growing recognition for the need to improve the health of prisoners in Canada and the need for health research, there has been little discussion of the ethical issues with regards to health research with prisoners in Canada. The purpose of this paper is to encourage a national conversation about what it means to conduct ethically sound health research with prisoners given...