Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Mortality After Release from Prison

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice

Overview

Studies from Europe, Australia, the United States and Taiwan have shown that the rate of mortality in ex-prisoners is elevated in the weeks immediately following release, compared with subsequent weeks. These studies have also shown that mortality rates in ex-prisoners remain elevated, compared with the non-institutionalized population, for many years post-release. Several mechanisms have been hypothesized to explain the elevated risk and a key debate relates to the relative contribution of incarceration itself and the high level of underlying risk among former inmates. Preventive efforts need further development and evaluation, and methodological limitations hinder synthesis of the literature.

Introduction

Correctional services have a duty of care to prisoners in their charge, and in most jurisdictions, deaths in custody are closely monitored (Curnow and Larsen 2009; Noonan 2010). In Australia for example, deaths in police custody and in prison are routinely monitored and...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 4,350.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 4,999.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Recommended Reading and References

  • Adams J, Nowels C, Corsi K, Long J, Steiner JF, Binswanger IA (2011) HIV risk after release from prison: a qualitative study of former inmates. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr 57(5):429–434

    Google Scholar 

  • AIHW (2011) The health of Australia’s prisoners 2010. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  • Binswanger IA, Stern MF, Deyo RA, Heagerty PJ, Cheadle A, Elmore JG et al (2007) Release from prison – a high risk of death for former inmates. N Engl J Med 356(2):157–165

    Google Scholar 

  • Binswanger IA, Blatchford PJ, Lindsay RG, Stern MF (2011a) Risk factors for all-cause, overdose and early deaths after release from prison in Washington state. Drug Alcohol Depend 117(1):1–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Binswanger IA, Nowels C, Corsi KF, Long J, Booth RE, Kutner J et al (2011b) “From the prison door right to the sidewalk, everything went downhill,” A qualitative study of the health experiences of recently released inmates. Int J Law Psychiatry 34(4):249–255

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyle CA, Decoufle P (1990) National sources of vital status information: extent of coverage and possible selectivity in reporting. Am J Epidemiol 131(1):160–168

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen CY, Wu PN, Su LW, Chou YJ, Lin KM (2010) Three year mortality and predictors after release: a longitudinal study of the first-time drug offenders in Taiwan. Soc Stud Addict 105:920–927

    Google Scholar 

  • Curnow J, Larsen JJ (2009) Deaths in custody in Australia: national deaths in custody program 2007. AIC Monitoring Reports No. 03. Australian Institute of Criminology, Canberra

    Google Scholar 

  • Fazel S, Danesh J (2002) Serious mental disorder in 23 000 prisoners: a systematic review of 62 surveys. Lancet 359:545–550

    Google Scholar 

  • Harding-Pink D, Frye O (1988) Risk of death after release from prison: a duty to warn. British Medical Journal 297:596

    Google Scholar 

  • Karaminia A, Law MG, Butler TG, Levy MH, Corber SP, Kaldor JM et al (2007) Suicide risk among recently released prisoners in New South Wales, Australia. Med J Aust 187(7):387–390

    Google Scholar 

  • Kariminia A, Butler TG, Corben SP, Levy MH, Grant L, Kaldor JM et al (2007) Extreme cause specific mortality in a cohort of adult prisoners – 1998 to 2002: a data-linkage study. Int J Epidemiol 36(2):310–318

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinner SA (2010) Understanding mortality and health outcomes for ex-prisoners: first steps on a long road [Commentary]. Addiction 105(9):1555–1556

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinner SA, Preen D, Kariminia A, Butler T, Andrews J, Stoové M et al (2011) Counting the cost: estimating of the number of deaths among recently released prisoners in Australia. Med J Aust 195(2):64–68

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinner SA, Forsyth S, Williams GM (2013). Systematic review of record linkage studies of mortality in ex-prisoners: why (good) methods matter. Addiction 108(1):38–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Larney S (2010) Opioid substitution treatment in prison and post-release: effects on criminal recidivism and mortality. University of New South Wales, Sydney

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenton SR, Dietze PM, Degenhardt L, Darke S, Butler TG (2009) Naloxone for administration by peers in cases of heroin overdose. Med J Aust 191(8):469

    Google Scholar 

  • Levy M (2005) Prisoner health care provision: reflections from Australia. Int J Prison Health 1(1):65–73

    Google Scholar 

  • Lidberg L, Wiklund N, Jakobsson SW (1989) Mortality among criminals with suspected mental disturbance. Scand J Soc Med 17:59–65

    Google Scholar 

  • Merrall ELC, Kariminia A, Binswanger IA, Hobbs MS, Farrell M, Marsden J et al (2010) Meta-analysis of drug-related deaths soon after release from prison. Addiction 105(9):1545–1554

    Google Scholar 

  • Noonan M (2010) Mortality in local jails 2000–07. US Bureau of Justice Statistics, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • Palepu A, Tyndall MW, Chan K, Wood E, Montaner JSG, Hogg RS (2004) Initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy and continuity of HIV care: the impact of incarceration and prison release on adherence and HIV treatment outcomes. Antivir Ther 9:713–719

    Google Scholar 

  • Pettit B, Western B (2004) Mass imprisonment and the life course: race and class inequality in U.S. incarceration. Am Sociol Rev 69:151–169

    Google Scholar 

  • Pratt D, Piper M, Appleby L, Webb R, Shaw J (2006) Suicide in recently released prisoners: a population-based cohort study. Lancet 368(9530):119–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosen DL, Schoenbach VJ, Wohl DA (2008) All-cause and cause-specific mortality among men released from state prison, 1980–2005. Am J Public Health 98(12):2278–2284

    Google Scholar 

  • Seal KH, Kral AH, Gee L, Moore LD, Bluthenthal RN, Lorvick J et al (2001) Predictors and prevention of nonfatal overdose among street-recruited injection heroin users in the San Francisco Bay Area, 1998–1999. Am J Public Health 91(11):1842–1846

    Google Scholar 

  • Seaman SR, Brettle RP, Gore SM (1998) Mortality from overdose among injecting drug users recently released from prison: database linkage study. Br Med J 316:426–428

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel S (2001) Pavlovian conditioning and drug overdose: when tolerance fails. Addict Res Theory 9(5):503–513

    Google Scholar 

  • Singleton N, Pendry E, Taylor C, Farrell M, Marsden J (2003) Drug-related mortality among newly released offenders. UK Home Office, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart L, Henderson C, Hobbs MST, Ridout SC, Knuiman MW (2004) Risk of death in prisoners after release from jail. Aust N Z J Public Health 28(1):32–36

    Google Scholar 

  • van Dooren K, Forsyth S, Kinner SA (in press). Young people have heightened risk of death in the year following release from adult prison. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner-Smith M, Darke S, Lynskey M, Hall W (2001) Heroin overdose: causes and consequences. Addiction 96(8):1113–1125

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO (2007) Health in prisons: a WHO guide to the essentials in prison health. World Health Organisation, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  • WHO (2010) Prevention of acute drug-related mortality in prison populations during the immediate post-release period. World Health Organisation, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne and School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Stuart A. Kinner

  2. School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Stuart A. Kinner

  3. Division of General Internal Medicine and Division of Substance Dependence, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA

    Ingrid A. Binswanger

  4. Denver Health Medical Center, Denver, CO, USA

    Ingrid A. Binswanger

Authors
  1. Stuart A. Kinner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ingrid A. Binswanger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stuart A. Kinner .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR), Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  2. VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Gerben Bruinsma

  3. Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA

    David Weisburd

  4. Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel

    David Weisburd

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Kinner, S.A., Binswanger, I.A. (2014). Mortality After Release from Prison. In: Bruinsma, G., Weisburd, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_332

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_332

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5689-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5690-2

  • eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation