New study confirms need for prisoner support on release

A new study has confirmed that people who are released from prison may need more psychological help when it comes to dealing with mental health issues and their transition back to everyday life.

Researchers at the Universities of Hull and York examined nine studies in Europe, the US and Australia that involved 460,983 people.

The review found that released prisoners had a 6.76 times increased risk of suicide when compared to the general population, with 1,102 suicides out of a total of 7,511 deaths recorded in all studies.

This was linked to the high levels of mental illness noted among prisoners, as well as the stress of making the move from prison to freedom.

Indeed, suicide was the second most common cause of death in this demographic, second only to drug-related causes.

Professor Graham Towl from Durham University, a Fellow of the Society, comments: “One of the most robust findings in prisoner suicide research is that the transition into prison is a time of heightened risk of suicide, this is so for those with or without diagnosed mental disorders.  The transition from custody to wider society is  also a period of transition where we would predict an inflated risk of suicide. This is a public health issue with offenders as a group having relatively high levels of health and social care needs.’

Writing in the journal Mental Health Practice, the review authors said they believe prison authorities should work more closely with probation, social and healthcare services in the community to reduce this problem.

http://rcnpublishing.com/doi/abs/10.7748/mhp2013.11.17.3.20.e846