Abstract
Prisons offer policymakers an opportunity to address the pre-existing high prevalence of physical and mental health issues among prisoners. This notion has been widely integrated into international and national prison health policies, including the Healthy Prisons Agenda, which calls for governments to address the health needs of prisoners and safeguard their health entitlement during imprisonment, and the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 concerning reducing inequality among disadvantaged populations.However, the implementation of the austerity policy in the United Kingdom since the re-emergence of the global financial crisis in 2008 has impeded this aspiration. This interdisciplinary paper critically evaluates the impact of austerity on prison health. The aforementioned policy has obstructed prisoners’ access to healthcare, exacerbated the degradation of their living conditions, impeded their purposeful activities and subjected them to an increasing level of violence.This paper calls for alternatives to imprisonment, initiating a more informed economic recovery policy, and relying on transnational and national organizations to scrutinize prisoners’ entitlement to health. These systemic solutions could act as a springboard for political and policy discussions at national and international forums with regard to improving prisoners’ health and simultaneously meeting the aspirations of the Healthy Prisons Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Highlights
Seven out of every 10 prisoners suffer from two or more mental disorders,[2] with at least half diverted from prisons to mental health institutions presenting with comorbidities of mental health problems and substance addiction.[4]
Beyond addressing funding shortages in the prison regime, such funds could be allocated towards community-based services that are rooted in welfare, health, and social care services, arguably providing a better alternative to imprisonment.[50]
Germany and the US, countries which all opted for fiscal stimulus rather than austerity in response to the global financial crisis, recorded better measures of mental health and a reduction in suicides among prisoners and the general population, as well as accelerated economic recovery.[63]
Summary
The World Health Organization (WHO) established the Healthy Prisons Agenda as a global priority in 19951 in response to overwhelming evidence of high levels of physical and mental health problems among prisoners.[2,3] Approximately seven out of every 10 prisoners suffer from two or more mental disorders,[2] with at least half diverted from prisons to mental health institutions presenting with comorbidities of mental health problems and substance addiction.[4]. This paper calls for alternatives to imprisonment, initiating a more informed economic recovery policy, and relying on transnational and national organizations to scrutinize prisoners’ entitlement to health.
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