Prisoners In Australia Research Articles

Mentally ill prisoners in Australia have poor physical health

Our objective was to compare the physical health status of adult prisoners with and without a mental illness. Mental illness was diagnosed in a sample of 557 Australian prisoners using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). Physical health measures included self‐reported chronic health conditions, recent health complaints and symptoms, self‐assessed health using the Short‐Form 36 Health Survey (SF‐36), and markers of infectious diseases known to be highly prevalent among prisoner populations (hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C). Men and women with a mental illness had lower scores on the SF‐36 compared with those without a mental illness indicating poor overall health. Adjusting for age and sex, a diagnosis of any mental illness (symptoms of psychosis, anxiety or affective disorder) was positively associated with a history of head injury, back problems, asthma, peptic ulcers, cancer, and epilepsy/seizures. There was a significant association between post traumatic stress disorder and asthma, a history of head injury, peptic ulcers, and cancer. There was no significant difference in the proportion of current tobacco smokers in the mentally ill and nonmentally ill groups (81% vs. 77%, p = 0.33). However, those with a mental illness were less likely than those with no diagnosis to exercise in the past 4 weeks (79% vs. 89%, p = 0.002). Mentally ill prisoners also have significant physical co‐morbidity compared with the non‐mentally ill. These findings suggest that those providing mental health services to prisoners should adopt a holistic approach embracing both mental and physical health.

Tattoos, incarceration and hepatitis B and C among street-recruited injection drug users in New Mexico, USA: update

To the Editor:In a previous report [1], we described significant risks for hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) positivity associated with receipt of tattoos, particularly while incarcerated, among a street-recruited population of injection drug users (IDUs) in New Mexico, United States from 1995 to 1997. Another recent report in this Journal, based on a study conducted on prisoners in Australia, found tattooing in prison to be an independent risk for HCV [2]. Another report also described a strong association between tattoos and HCV, but found the strongest association to be with commercial tattooing venues [3]. That study found the risk associated with receipt of tattoos in prison elevated, but not statistically significant. That same report reviewed other articles and found a significant risk for HCV infection associated with tattoos in six out of eight studies that had data available. Further, a recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) document summarized the literature on risks for hepatitis infections in correctional settings and developed extensive control guidelines [4].

Deaths in Private and Public Prisons in Australia: A Comparative Analysis

Public opinion in Australia has been divided on the question of whether private prisons are welcome and one of the issues in dispute has been the question of whether or not private prisons are associated with proportionately more or fewer deaths of prisoners, particularly suicides, than public prisons. The available evidence is examined, and when the number of deaths, or suicides, per 1000 prisoner years served for all private and public prisons are calculated it is found that the rate for all deaths is significantly lower in private prisons at the 0.05 level of confidence. However, the difference in the suicide rates is not statistically significant.The lower overall death rate is particularly surprising as private prisons in Australia hold proportionately more unconvicted remandees,who are at higher risk, than public prisons. A close examination of the data for three relatively new remand and reception prisons, two private and one public, shows that all have much higher rates for both all deaths and for suicides than the national averages. This is an updated and expanded version of a paper by the same authors published by the Australian Institute of Criminology in June 1999. That paper was admitted into evidence at a coronial inquiry that was held into five deaths that occurred in the Port Phillip Prison in Victoria. Address for correspondence: D. Biles, 25 Kidston Cres, Curtin ACT 2605, Australia.

Death and dying in prison in Australia: national overview, 1980-1998.

Author discusses the role of the Australian Institute of Criminology in monitoring deaths in people in custody in Australian prisons on a national basis. She provides an overview of deaths in prison custody between 1980 and 1998, noting a shift in the cause of death of Indigenous prisoners from natural causes to self-infliction.

Prison Privateers: Neo‐Colonialists in NSW

Abstract: Private for‐profit prison corporations are expanding in Australia faster than in any other country. These corporations are based in the USA and form part of the correctionscommercial complex. It is the contention of this paper, from observations in NSW, Australia, that the nature of these newly internationalised private prison corporations is neo‐colonialist, both economically and culturally. It can be compared with the expansion of the nuclear power industry by transnational US corporations in the 1960s and 1970s and other transnationals more recently. Using this perspective, the appropriateness of transnational private for‐profit prison corporations running prisons in Australia is severely questioned.

The Privatisation of Punishment: A Review of the Key Issues

Both the New South Wales and the Queensland Governments have opened the door to the privatisation of prisons in Australia. The term ‘privatisation’ refers to a range of processes in the financing and provision of corrective ‘services’ to criminal offenders. This paper canvasses the theoretical and policy issues related to the privatisation of prisons. Through a review of the international literature, the author suggests key areas of concern for future policy development and evaluation. The paper concludes with a comparison between the privatisation and the deinstitutionalisation of punishment and outlines the theoretical implications of such a comparison.

Prison Privatisation in Australia: A Glimpse of the Future

With prison qprivatisation now part of the Australian correctional policy agenda, questions arise as to the dangers and the opportunities which can arise under such arrangements. Drawing upon experience in the United States, England, a previous unsuccessful initiative in Australia at Tallong, and the one currently operating private prison in Australia at Borallon, the article addresses the main problems. These are: that incarceration and penal policies generally may be driven by private profit motivations; that private imprisonment may be beyond the reach of public accountability; that a dual standard (public system squalor, private system affluence) may be created; and that the allocation of punishment as opposed to its administration may de facto become a private matter.On the basis of present legislation and the practical arrangements at Borallon itself, it is concluded that privatisation can readily finesse all of these problems. Moreover, successful privatisation can act as a catalyst for improvements in the public prison system, both as to cost and as to programs. Private prisons are likely to become established as a small but significant part of the total Australian imprisonment system.

Aids and Prisons in Australia

Aids and Prisons in Australia

Book Review: The Management of Long-Term Prisoners in Australia (Research Monograph)

Book Review: <b>The Management of Long-Term Prisoners in Australia</b> (Research Monograph)

Time Served by Life Sentence Prisoners in Australia

Time Served by Life Sentence Prisoners in Australia