Majority Of Prisoners Research Articles

Philosophy in prison

The UK prison system is in crisis: overcrowded, understaffed, ill fitted to whatever purpose imprisonment might be intended to have. Prison education is particularly under pressure, especially since a majority of prisoners are functionally illiterate. The charity Philosophy in Prison seeks to address the complex problems of prison education by offering philosophical conversations in prisons: oral, so accessible to most, but driven by difficult philosophical questions that are puzzling to anyone. This process faces down the disadvantage suffered by many within the criminal justice system, that their voices are not heard (the problem of epistemic injustice). For these conversations have an equalising effect, since the problems they address are puzzling to anyone, whether new to it or expert. That general puzzlement allows the participant both to see the viewpoints of others, and to have their own viewpoint seen by others. This matters: it shows each prisoner that they do have standing, in themselves, after all. (This article is published in the thematic collection ‘The arts and humanities: rethinking value for today—views from Fellows of the British Academy’, edited by Isobel Armstrong.)

Prison health services across ten central prisons in Cameroon.

In 2021, Cameroon held approximately 26,300 inmates in 84 prisons. The Ministry of Justice manages health services in prisons. Conclusive data concerning health care in prisons are lacking. Herein, we present the results of an assessment of health care provision and delivery in 10 central prisons. We adopted mixed methods, including document review, observations, interviews with the Ministry of Justice and prison facility officials, and inmate focus group discussions (FGDs). The 6 building blocks of the World Health Organization's health system framework guided the data collection. Moreover, we collected data on imprisonment conditions. Ministerial authorisation and verbal informed consent were obtained for all activities. There were a total of 17,126 inmates, with the prison populations ranging from 353 inmates to 4,576 inmates. The majority of prisons were characterised by huge overcrowding (mean 301%). The 10 central prisons operated infirmaries with insufficient space and equipment. Compared with the civilian health sector, the numeric ratio of paramedical personnel/inmates was favourable (1:3.4 vs. 1:0.5 p. 1,000 pop, respectively). Recent admissions were screened for the coronavirus disease 2019, tuberculosis (TB), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Moreover, the inmates were diagnosed for current pathologies and lesions. For the treatment of chronic diseases and medical emergencies, the prison health services bridged service gaps on a case-by-case basis through informal arrangements with the civilian health sector. The service quality control was limited to those performed by the TB and HIV/acquired immune deficiency syndrome control programmes. Health data was collected and transmitted with a multitude of data collection tools, without standardisation and systematic verification. The primarily reported problems comprised the scarcity of resources and the absence of an effective oversight of resource management and service quality performance entailing governance problems. Participants in FDGs esteemed the quality of treatment as poor unless paid for in cash, and denounced severe difficulties for access to care outside the prisons when required. For meeting the standard minimum rules for the treatment of inmates, prison health care in Cameroon should fill the crucial gaps involving imprisonment conditions, access to health services, and accountability. Regarding chronic underfunding, intensifying collaboration with the civil health sector may partially address the problem.

Історико-демографічна характеристика ув’язнених Херсонської губернії в першій половині ХІХ ст. (за матеріалами діловодної документації)

Th e purpose of the research is to establish the number and dynamics of priso ners in the prisons of the Kherson province in the fi rst half of the 19th century, to analyze the age distribution of prisoners, gender distribution, social origin of prisoners, distribution of prisoners into diff erent categories depending on the crimes committed. Th e research methodology is based on the principles of a concrete-historical approach or historicism. Quantitative research methods, historical-comparative method, interpretation method, general scientifi c methods of analysis and synthesis were used in the research. Th e scientifi c novelty of the study lies in the fact that this study is the fi rst attempt to form a comprehensive picture of the number and composition of prisoners in the Kherson province in the fi rst half of the 19th century, based on statistical data from the two largest cities of the province – Odesa and Kherson. For the fi rst time, the study analyzed the distri- bution of inmates of the Odesa prison castle by age and crimes committed. Th e obtained data were compared with the Kherson prison castle, which made it possible to identify trends common to the two cities regarding the composition of prisoners and their number. In turn, these results were considered in the context of the entire Southern Ukraine and other Ukrainian provinces within the Russian Empire. Conclusions. It was found that the majority of prisoners were men, while only a fi ft h were women. Th e basis of the prison “population” of the two main prisons of the Kherson province was made up of persons imprisoned for violating the population localization system and minor property crimes – theft and fraud. Th is was a typical situation for Southern Ukraine, where the population of cities was rapidly increasing and attracting new immigrants, which was refl ected in the number of arrestees. A comparison with other Ukrainian provinces made it possible to es- tablish that, in relation to the number of citizens, the number of detainees in Odesa and Kherson was not an exception to Ukrainian provinces.

Female permanent contraception policies and occurrence at a sample of U.S. prisons and jails

Incarcerated individuals have an unmet need for contraception, yet have also been subject to coercive permanent contraception practices. Data do not exist on prison and jail policies around access to permanent contraception or how often it occurs among women in custody. We sought to describe permanent and reversible contraception policies at U.S carceral institutions and the frequency of these procedures. We surveyed a convenience sample of 22 state prison systems and 6 county jails from 2016 to 2017 about female permanent contraception and reversible contraception policies. In addition, 10 prisons and 4 jails reported 6 months of monthly data on the number of postpartum permanent contraception procedures performed on women who gave birth in custody. We analyzed results for descriptive statistics. Eleven prisons (50%) and 5 jails (83%) permitted female permanent contraception; 7 of these prisons and 3 of these jails allowing permanent contraception did not have a written policy about it. Six prisons and no jails provided access to permanent but not reversible contraception. Over 6 months, 3 women from 2 prisons and 4 women at 2 jails received postpartum permanent contraception. The majority of prisons and jails in our study allowed incarcerated women to have permanent contraception in custody, often without formalized policies in place. Postpartum permanent contraception occurred during the study period. Given the inherent lack of autonomy of incarceration and history of sterilization abuses in this marginalized group, policy-makers should advance policies that avoid coercive permanent contraception and increase access to reversible contraception in carceral settings. Many carceral institutions permit women to undergo permanent contraception but provide no access to reversible contraception; this practice raises concern for compromised autonomy and further reproductive marginalization of a group with limited access to quality reproductive health care.

Prisoners\u2019 access to HIV services in southern Malawi: a cross-sectional mixed methods study

BackgroundThe prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) among prisoners remains high in many countries, especially in Africa, despite a global decrease in HIV incidence. Programs to reach incarcerated populations with HIV services have been implemented in Malawi, but the success of these initiatives is uncertain. We explored which challenges prisoners face in receiving essential HIV services and whether HIV risk behavior is prevalent in prisons.MethodsWe conducted a mixed-methods (qualitative and quantitative), cross-sectional study in 2018 in six prisons in Southern Malawi, two large central prisons with on-site, non-governmental organization (NGO) supported clinics and 4 smaller rural prisons. Four hundred twelve prisoners were randomly selected and completed a structured questionnaire. We conducted in-depth interviews with 39 prisoners living with HIV, which we recorded, transcribed and translated. We used descriptive statistics and logistic regression to analyze quantitative data and content analysis for qualitative data.ResultsThe majority of prisoners (93.2%) were male, 61.4% were married and 63.1% were incarcerated for 1–5 years. Comprehensive services were reported to be available in the two large, urban prisons. Female prisoners reported having less access to general medical services than males. HIV risk behavior was reported infrequently and was associated with incarceration in urban prisons (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 18.43; 95% confidence interval [95%-CI] 7.59–44.74; p = < 0.001) and not being married (aOR 17.71; 95%-CI 6.95–45.13; p = < 0.001). In-depth interviews revealed that prisoners living with HIV experienced delays in referrals for more severe illnesses. Prisoners emphasized the detrimental impact of poor living conditions on their personal health and their ability to adhere to antiretroviral therapy (ART).ConclusionsMalawian prisoners reported adequate knowledge about HIV services albeit with gaps in specific areas. Prisoners from smaller, rural prisons had suboptimal access to comprehensive HIV services and female prisoners reported having less access to health care than males. Prisoners have great concern about their poor living conditions affecting general health and adherence to ART. These findings provide guidance for improvement of HIV services and general health care in Malawian institutionalized populations such as prisoners.

The Victim-Offender Overlap in Prison: Examining the Factors Associated With Group Membership.

Historically, criminologists have examined offending and victimization in the community as separate outcomes. Recently, however, researchers have begun to explore the shared commonalities of being an offender and a victim. The victim-offender overlap literature shows that victimization and offending are not different and distinct outcomes, but rather these outcomes share numerous risk factors. A close examination of the victim-offender overlap has not been done within the prison literature. Thus, it remains unclear whether there are commonalities among prisoners who offend while incarcerated and those who experience victimization. The focus of the current study is to (a) identify the proportion of the prisoners who were victims-only, offenders-only, victim-offenders, or neither victim nor offender and (b) identify the factors that predict membership into the four categories of the overlap. The current study used the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities with multinomial logistic regression analyses to examine which factors are associated with group membership into the victim-only, offender-only, or victim-offender groups in prison. Findings show that although the victim-offender overlap exists among prisoners, the majority of prisoners were neither a victim nor an offender. Victim-offenders and victims-only comprise only a small proportion of the sample. Findings also indicate that there are few unique factors across the groups. Results of the study have implications policy and future research.

The Inhumane Treatment of People in Jail Centers: Rethinking the Duty to Protect the Health and Dignity of Prisoners in Ghana.

While prisoners’ right to health care is recognized and protected under international human rights instruments and domestic constitution, it is also the case that majority of prisoners in Ghana, are subject to abusive treatment, inhuman conditions of living, and often denied basic access to medical treatment. This article argues, that read in light of international human rights instruments, WHO guidelines as well as the African Charter, the government, Judiciary and prison authorities in Ghana, owe it as an obligation to protect and respect the dignity of prisoners, including access to hygienic and humane living conditions. Keywords: Prisoners’ rights, access to health care, dignity, poor, sanitation, judiciary DOI : 10.7176/JLPG/94-21 Publication date : February 29 th 2020 Acknowledgment : I like to acknowledge Miss Lara Barbara Ofori, for reading and commenting on the draft of this article. However, all errors and limitations remain the sole responsibility of the author.

Prisoners' Basic Skills and Subsequent Education Involvement

The Centre for Education in the Criminal Justice System (CECJS) at UCL Institute of Education recognises that, in order to design a coherent prison education system, it is necessary to have an informed understanding of the current educational levels of the learners. Until recently, information available on the levels of literacy and numeracy skills of the prison population was considerably out of date, and therefore unhelpful to the current context. However, from this current and ongoing work we are beginning to gain an updated picture of skill levels. In November 2015, CECJS released an initial analysis into prisoners' basic skills levels based on the ‘mandatory assessments' in English and maths in 2014/15. This paper builds on that analysis using the official data gleaned from the 2014/15 Individualised Learning Record database, which is both consistent with, and supplements, the information from the prison education providers. The paper is structured to first validate the overall findings of the initial report regarding skills level of the incoming prison population. It examines how the assessment data is used by providers to inform placement of prisoners on appropriate basic skill courses, and analyses the progression trajectories of prisoners. It then details the performance of prisoners on basic English and maths courses, including their progression and achievement. The findings suggest a system that is failing to deliver education to its most vulnerable learners in prison. The majority of prisoners, including those with the lowest skills levels of English and maths, do not progress to higher levels and are insufficiently challenged. Of those prisoners enrolled on courses of study, only half complete and often only at levels lower than their previously assessed levels. The conclusion provides recommendations for policy makers and urgently calls for more research.

Association of Schizoid and Schizotypal Personality disorder with violent crimes and homicides in Greek prisons

BackgroundPersonality disorders (PDs) have been associated with both violent crimes and homicides in many studies. The proportion of PDs among prisoners reaches up to 80%. For male prisoners, the most common PD in the literature is antisocial PD. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between PDs and violent crimes/homicides of male prisoners in Greece.MethodsA sample of 308 subjects was randomly selected from a population of 1300 male prisoners incarcerated in two Greek prisons, one urban and one rural. The presence of PDs was assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) and the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 (PDQ-4). Using logistic regression models PD types and PD “Clusters” (independent variables) were associated with “violent/non-violent crimes” and “homicides/non homicides” (dependent variables).Results“Cluster A” PDs (Paranoid, Schizoid, and Schizotypal) were diagnosed in 16.2%, “Cluster B” (Antisocial, Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic) in 66.9% and “Cluster C” (Obsessive–Compulsive, Dependent, Avoidant) in 2.9% of the studied population. Violent crimes and homicides were found significantly associated with “Cluster A” PDs (p = 0.022, p = 0.020). The odds ratio of committing violent crimes was 2.86 times higher for patients with “Cluster A” PDs than the ones without PDs. In addition, the odds ratio of committing homicides was 4.25 times higher for patients with “Cluster A” PDs. In separate analyses, the commitment of violent crimes as well as homicides, was significantly associated with Schizoid (p = 0.043, p = 0.020) and Schizotypal PD (p = 0.017, p = 0.030).ConclusionsThe majority of prisoners was found to suffer from a PD, mainly the Antisocial “Cluster B”, but the commitment of violent crimes and homicides was significantly associated only with “Cluster A” PDs and specifically with Schizoid and Schizotypal PD.

Analyzing prisoners’, law enforcement agents’, and civilians’ moral evaluations of The Sopranos

According to Zillmann (2000) viewers function as “untiring moral monitors”; relentlessly coming to moral judgments about the actions and motives of protagonists and antagonists. How does this “moral monitoring” apply to morally ambiguous crime TV drama that features unlawful protagonists? The current exploratory study is based on qualitative interviews (N=3×20) that aimed to provide insight in the grounds of moral evaluations of three selected episodes of mobster drama series The Sopranos. Viewers of three distinctive moral subcultures (i.e., prisoners, law enforcement agents, and civilians) were interviewed. The results revealed that the majority of prisoners and law enforcement agents grounded their moral evaluations mostly in their professional opinions and experiences, and came to fairly strict, yet different moral evaluations. In contrast, most of the civilians had a more “lenient” association with narratives and characters. Civilians generally based their evaluations on the morally ambiguous story world, and therefore showcased more nuances in their moral judgments.

Trajectories of psychological distress after prison release: implications for mental health service need in ex-prisoners.

Understanding individual-level changes in mental health status after prison release is crucial to providing targeted and effective mental health care to ex-prisoners. We aimed to describe trajectories of psychological distress following prison discharge and compare these trajectories with mental health service use in the community. The Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) was administered to 1216 sentenced adult prisoners in Queensland, Australia, before prison release and approximately 1, 3 and 6 months after release. We used group-based trajectory modeling to identify K10 trajectories after release. Contact with community mental health services in the year following release was assessed via data linkage. We identified five trajectory groups, representing consistently low (51.1% of the cohort), consistently moderate (29.8%), high increasing (11.6%), high declining (5.5%) and consistently very high (1.9%) psychological distress. Mood disorder, anxiety disorder, history of self-harm and risky drug use were risk factors for the high increasing, very high and high declining trajectory groups. Women were over-represented in the high increasing and high declining groups, but men were at higher risk of very high psychological distress. Within the high increasing and very high groups, 25% of participants accessed community mental health services in the first year post-release, for a median of 4.4 contact hours. For the majority of prisoners with high to very high psychological distress, distress persists after release. However, contact with mental health services in the community appears low. Further research is required to understand barriers to mental health service access among ex-prisoners.

Deportability and the Carceral State

Unlawfully entering the United States after a deportation is a felony. Remaining in the United States after the expiration of a visa is a felony. Passing a bad check when undocumented is an aggravated felony. Each punishable by at least one year in prison, these immigration-related crimes today constitute the leading cause of imprisonment in the federal penal system. Drug offenders, in other words, no longer constitute the majority of federal prisoners. Over the past decade, immigration offenders have consistently equaled or outnumbered drug offenders in the federal penal system, although the margin is relatively slight. In 2011, for example, drug offenders made up 29.1 percent of all federal convictions compared to immigration offenders who represented 34.9 percent of all convictions. Together, however, immigration and drug offenders were the majority of all prisoners in the federal penal system, making both immigration control and the war on drugs cornerstones of the carceral state.1 Scholars of the carceral state have published numerous analyses of the war on drugs, but far fewer have examined when, why, and how immigration control became a cornerstone of the carceral state. Since the 1880s, in the name of immigration control, the federal government has deported more than 50 million people. By detailing the creation and expansion of deportability (the legal condition of being deportable) and the stunning number of deportations since the late nineteenth century, this essay provides a brief history of how immigration control emerged as a leading cause of incarceration in the United States. It focuses on deportation because more than 75 percent of immigration offenders are unauthorized immigrants sentenced to prison for entering the United States without inspection or for overstaying an immigrant visa. U.S. federal prisons, therefore, are filling up with deportees.2

Enquête comportementale et sérologique sur le VIH/sida chez les détenus à Nouakchott (Mauritanie)

In Mauritania, epidemiological data estimate national HIV prevalence to less than 1%. Our study is the first joint survey on HIV/AIDS conducted among prisoners in Mauritania. It is a cross-sectional survey with anonymity and informed consent. The study covered a sample of 296 prisoners enrolled in a population of 706 prisoners held in Nouakchott. The sex ratio was 14.6. The refusal rate of blood sample was 4.7%. HIV prevalence in the sample was 3.9%. 53.37% of prisoners knew the concept of seropositivity but only 7.4% had a perfect knowledge of the ways of HIV transmission untainted by false beliefs. The results showed that 99% of prisoners knew that the condom is a means of protection against HIV infection, but they also showed many false beliefs about protection against HIV in the majority of prisoners. Indeed, 98.49% of respondents said they protected themselves by avoiding sex with strangers and 94.97% of them thought that sex with young girls or virgins are protection against HIV. Nearly one quarter of the prisoners did not have a good perception of risk of contracting HIV in prison although homosexual relations between prisoners have been reported. This study showed that prisoners in Mauritania are a vulnerable group to HIV because the prevalence of HIV in this group was higher than the national prevalence and this sub-population was unfamiliar with the disease and adopt risk behaviors.

Moving prison health promotion along: towards an integrative framework for action to develop health promotion and tackle the social determinants of health

The majority of prisoners are drawn from deprived circumstances with a range of health and social needs. The current focus within ‘prison health’ does not, and cannot, given its predominant medical model, adequately address the current health and well-being needs of offenders. Adopting a social model of health is more likely to address the wide range of health issues faced by offenders and thus lead to better rehabilitation outcomes. At the same time, broader action at governmental level is required to address the social determinants of health (poverty, unemployment and educational attainment) that marginalise populations and increase the likelihood of criminal activities. Within prison, there is more that can be done to promote prisoners’ health if a move away from a solely curative, medical model is facilitated, towards a preventive perspective designed to promote positive health. Here, we use the Ottawa Charter for health promotion to frame public health and health promotion within prisons and to set out a challenging agenda that would make health a priority for everyone, not just ‘health’ staff, within the prison setting. A series of outcomes under each of the five action areas of the Charter offers a plan of action, showing how each can improve health. We also go further than the Ottawa Charter, to comment on how the values of emancipatory health promotion need to permeate prison health discourse, along with the concept of salutogenesis.

Profile of male forensic psychiatric inpatients in South India

The study explored the socio-demographic, clinical and legal profile of forensic psychiatric inpatients in an attempt to improve the existing mental health services for prisoners within the prison and in psychiatric hospitals. ology: A chart review of 135 forensic psychiatric inpatients admitted between January 2005 and December 2009 was done. A structured data-extraction tool was used for data collection and a descriptive approach for analyses. Subjects were referred either directly from prison (62.2%) or from court (37.8%) for diagnosis, treatment or certification. References to the Mental Health Act 1987, charges and inclusion of first investigation report and behavioural observation report was lacking in most. The majority of prisoners (85.7%) were under trial, murder being the most common charge. Psychiatric diagnosis was made in 90.3%, the most common being psychosis. Substance use (nicotine, alcohol, cannabis) and high-risk behaviours were also common. There is a need to streamline the procedure of referral and to sensitize the referral authorities about the Mental Health Act and mental illnesses, and the need to enclose first investigation reports and behavioural observation reports. De-addiction services and facilities need to be established within prison premises so that the inmates get the benefit of treatment at the earliest opportunity.

Changing legal characteristics of dangerous and severe personality disorder (DSPD) patients and prisoners

We investigated the legal status of 172 dangerous and severe personality disorder (DSPD) patients and prisoners. Dangerous and severe personality disorder prisoners were more likely to have been serving indeterminate sentences, while patients admitted to hospital units were more likely to have been given determinate sentences. At admission, the majority of prisoners were in advance of their tariff expiry or parole eligibility dates, while the majority of patients had passed them. Patients previously serving a determinate prison sentence were close to their non parole date (NPD), the date they expected to be released from prison, with 40% of pre-NPD patients found to have less than two weeks to serve. At follow-up 85% of patients originally serving a determinate sentence had passed their NPD. While only three prisoners passed their NPD during the study, all were still detained. These findings suggest that a proportion of patients were ‘preventively detained’ within the DSPD hospital units.

The suicidal process in male prisoners making near-lethal suicide attempts

Most investigations of factors contributing to prisoner suicide have focused on suicidal behaviour as a discrete event and used official records or ‘psychological autopsy’ methodology. A potentially more informative approach is to study survivors of near-lethal suicide attempts about their suicidal process. We have investigated the suicidal process in male prisoners through semi-structured interviews with 60 prisoners who made near-lethal suicide attempts. The suicide attempts often followed adverse life events (especially broken relationships or bereavement), criminal justice/prison-related factors (e.g. concerns about sentencing) and psychiatric or psychological factors (e.g. drug/alcohol withdrawal, depression/anxiety and hearing voices). The majority of prisoners said they intended to die (73%), although many acts had been impulsive (40%). Most described visual images about their suicidal acts (82%). Limited access to methods of suicide had clearly influenced method choice (most commonly hanging/ligaturing 67%), along with expectations about the anticipated speed, painfulness and lethality. Half the prisoners believed their acts could have been prevented, often with relatively simple solutions. The suicidal process in prisoners is a complex interplay of background factors, adverse life events, mental health and psychological problems and cognitive processes. Understanding and recognising these various aspects of the process is likely to improve suicide prevention in prisons.

Women’s health in prisons: It is time to correct gender insensitivity and social injustice

Women form a minority group within the prisons of Europe. Prisons have been built and they are run with the needs of the majority of prisoners in mind, namely men. Evidence collected throughout Europe about women's health in prisons showed that the services provided in some countries failed to meet even basic needs of women and provided examples of considerable gender insentivity and failures to observe their human rights. Along with UNODC, a joint report was issued called the WHO/UNODC Declaration which presented the evidence and made recommendations for urgently required improvements.

Consensual Sex Between Men and Sexual Violence in Australian Prisons

Estimates of the incidence of sexual coercion in men's prisons are notoriously variable and fraught with conceptual and methodological problems. In 2006-2007, we conducted a computer-assisted telephone survey of a random sample of 2,018 male prisoners in New South Wales and Queensland. Of 2,626 eligible and available inmates, 76.8% consented and provided full responses. We asked about time in prison, sexual experience, attraction and (homo/bi/heterosexual) identity, attitudes, sexual contact with other inmates, reasons for having sex and practices engaged in, and about sexual coercion, including location and number of perpetrators. Most men (95.1%) identified as heterosexual. Of the total sample, 13.5% reported sexual contact with males in their lifetime: 7.8% only outside prison, 2.8% both inside and outside, and 2.7% only inside prison. Later in the interview, 144 men (7.1% of total sample) reported sexual contact with inmates in prison; the majority had few partners and no anal intercourse. Most did so for pleasure, but some for protection, i.e., to avoid assault by someone else. Before incarceration, 32.9% feared sexual assault in prison; 6.9% had been sexually threatened in prison and 2.6% had been sexually coerced ("forced or frightened into doing something sexually that [they] did not want"). Some of those coerced reported no same-sex contact. The majority of prisoners were intolerant of male-to-male sexual activity. The study achieved a high response rate and asked detailed questions to elicit reports of coercion and sex separately. Both consensual sex and sexual assault are less common than is generally believed.

Primary medical care in Irish prisons.

BackgroundAn industrial dispute between prison doctors and the Irish Prison Service (IPS) took place in 2004. Part of the resolution of that dispute was that an independent review of prison medical and support services be carried out by a University Department of Primary Care. The review took place in 2008 and we report here on the principal findings of that review.MethodsThis study utilised a mixed methods approach. An independent expert medical evaluator (one of the authors, DT) inspected the medical facilities, equipment and relevant custodial areas in eleven of the fourteen prisons within the IPS. Semistructured interviews took place with personnel who had operational responsibility for delivery of prison medical care. Prison doctors completed a questionnaire to elicit issues such as allocation of clinician's time, nurse and administrative support and resources available.ResultsThere was wide variation in the standard of medical facilities and infrastructure provided across the IPS. The range of medical equipment available was generally below that of the equivalent general practice scheme in the community. There is inequality within the system with regard to the ratio of doctor-contracted time relative to the size of the prison population. There is limited administrative support, with the majority of prisons not having a medical secretary. There are few psychiatric or counselling sessions available.ConclusionsPeople in prison have a wide range of medical care needs and there is evidence to suggest that these needs are being met inconsistently in Irish prisons.