BACKGROUND Social capital has been shown to be a valuable resource for improving health outcomes. However, it has received little attention in the prison setting. Dimensions of social capital in mainstream society are likely to function differently among inmates in prison. This study seeks to identify and understand social capital dimensions among incarcerated men living with hepatitis C. MET...

The role of the prison has changed, in some ways dramatically, over the last two decades. The prison population has grown and its composition has altered. There has been an increase in the depth and weight of imprisonment, and a hardening of its emotional tone. Prisoners' voices have been silenced, outcomes have deteriorated, and yet public presentation of the prison has improved. Power has shi...

Research Summary: Prior macro-level studies examining the impact of prison population growth on crime rates have produced widely varying results. Studies using national-level time series data find large impacts of prison growth on crime, whereas those using state panel data find more modest ones. Critics of the former studies maintain that the estimates are implausibly large, arguing that the e...

BACKGROUND Vulnerable prisoners and mentally disordered offenders who present with risk of harm to self or others were accommodated in Special Observation Cells (SOCs) isolated from others for considerable periods of time. This practice has been criticised by the Council of Europe Committee for the Prevention of Torture. The objective of this initiative was to reduce the use of seclusion within...

AIMS To determine the effects of 1) a condom distribution program and 2) a condom distribution program combined with opt-out sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening on the transmission and prevalence of STIs in a prison system. METHODS Using data from an implementation evaluation of a state-wide prison condom program and parameter estimates from available literature, a deterministic mo...

BACKGROUND Prison populations are known to be at high risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and blood borne viruses (BBVs). In accordance with State health guidelines, the Western Australian Department of Correctional Services' policy is to offer testing for STIs and BBVs to all new prison entrants. This audit was undertaken to assess the completeness and timeliness of STI and BBV test...

The aim was to investigate the role of age, drug abuse, period of confinement, loneliness, difficulty in controlling emotions, having no friends in prison, victimization in prison, guilt over crimes, insomnia, nightmares, anxiety, depression, and mood change in predicating suicide attempts in a sample of homicidal young prisoners. Poisson regression model indicated that five variables contribut...

a number of interviews carried out by the author with the permission and co-operation of the Home Office at their only psychiatric prison, Grendon Underwood. Interviews were mainly with prisoners but also with members of the staffThere is an air of authenticity about the whole work. The characters stand out; one has met them> from 'Good Hearted Harry', the prison officer who believed i? people,...

The study design, however, does not support the conclusion of the authors that “there was no evidence of tuberculosis transmission within the institutions.” Their record review of 4,744 inmates showed that only 347(7.3 percent)had documented repeat skin tests during incarceration. The extent to which this small percentage of inmates, some ofwhom had been released from prison between skin tests,...

Previous research suggested an unexplained difference in the patterns of offending behaviors among deaf people when compared to hearing people. This study, conducted in Texas, compares the incidence and types of violent offenses of a deaf prison population in comparison to the hearing prison population. Sixty-four percent of deaf prisoners were incarcerated for violent offenses in comparison to...