Promoting Health in Prisons: a Setting Approach is an article by Michelle Baybutt, Enrique Acin, Paul Hayton, and Mark Dooris. For those who want to read the entire thing, you can go to link here. From the same page, you can also download the by pressing the Download button located at the top right of the page. Before reading the whole thing, you can read the summary below:
Key points
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- Prisoners tend to have much poorer physical, mental and social health compared to the population at large.
- Health promotion, as well as the prevention of disease for this group, should be based on an assessment of health needs.
- Both quantity and quality of the service should be at least equivalent to all the services that are offered in the outside community.
- The whole-prison or settings approach to promoting health should be based on three key elements. The first one is prison policies that promote health (including a smoking policy), the second one is an environment in a prison that is supportive of health, and the third one is disease prevention, health education and other health promotion initiatives that address the health needs assessed within every prison.
- It is needed for a policy framework to be in place at national and local levels so that this kind of work can be supported.
- There is a chance for the prison health services to engage those who are not easy to reach.
- The needs of prisoners should be considered with the needs of the staff, where appropriate, especially in such places such as smoking restrictions and smoking cessation.
- It is needed for the staff to know of their potential roles in promoting the health of the prisoners and they should also be trained and supported in these roles.
- The idea of using prisoners as effective peer educators has been used in a number of counties can be helpful.
Introduction
Besides giving health care, prisons should also give synergistic health education, patient education, prevention and other health promotion interventions so that the assessed needs of the prison population can be fulfilled. Remember that everyone at the prison and environment should show a commitment to health and well-being through supportive policies and practices. In order to support health promotion activities in prisons, there is a need for integrated and joined-up health services across the whole criminal justice system, such as adequate throughcare and support with broad resettlement needs. The things that make rehabilitation and resettlement successful include good health and well-being.
By reading this chapter, the ones that work with prisoners will be able to do a few things, such as building the physical, mental, social and spiritual health of prisoners (and, where appropriate, the staff) as part of a whole-prison approach; helping prevent the deterioration of their health during or because of custody; and helping them to adopt healthy behaviour patterns that can be taken back into the community.
Challenges and opportunities
Generally, the populations of the prison in Europe come from some sections of society with high levels of poor health and social exclusion. Compared to the general population, prisoners tend to have poorer physical, mental and social health. The chance of them getting ill is high due to their lifestyles. Before entering prison, many of them have had little or no regular contact with health services. Among the prisoners, the most common health issues include mental illness, drug dependence and communicable diseases.
The prison authorities should be in charge of assessing the health needs of their populations. Not only that, they should also ensure that the health promotion and prevention programs meet the needs of the prisoners.
The health promotion needs of prisoners
The heart of successful interventions and useful outcomes play a big role in assessment of health needs. To do that, examining the epidemiological evidence and talking to the stakeholders are needed.
The needs that are likely needed by all prisoners include approach screening for and advice on preventing communicable diseases (including STIs, HIV and hepatitis); advice and education on high-risk lifestyles (for instance, it is related to illegal drugs, alcohol, smoking and passive smoking); support in adopting healthy behavior (for instance, increased levels of physical activity and a balanced diet); and measures to promote mental health (for instance, for social interaction, meaningful occupation and building and maintaining strong family relationships). The needs that are likely needed by many prisoners include training and support in psychological skills (including cognitive behavior, self-esteem and anger management); education in health and empowerment (such as information about risk factors and behavior, the development of decision-making skills and support in becoming more empowered); development of life-skills (for instance, searching for work, employability and parenting); and certain health promotion interventions (including peer support, mentoring and smoking cessation). As for the needs that are likely needed by some prisoners include education that is related to certain illnesses (including HIV and TB), including the options for treatment and prevention of transmission; immunization (pneumococcus, influenza, hepatitis, TB); advice on certain conditions (epilepsy, diabetes, asthma, sickle-cell disease); access to cancer prevention and advice and services for early detection; special treatment programs (for instance, protection from gender-based violence); and gender-specific health care treatment and programs.
A whole-prison approach: a vision for creating a health-promoting prison
From the evidence from the other healthy settings initiatives, it can be concluded that effective programs are likely to be complex and multifactorial and involve activity in more than one domain. That’s why it is important to apply the healthy settings model to criminal justice and develop a whole-prison approach in case there is a chance of health interventions to succeed.
Apparently, the settings approach are originally from core values and characterized by an ecological model of public health, a systems perspective and a whole-organization focus. It can be said that a health-promoting prison is one that is also safe, secure, and reforming and is supported by a commitment to participation, equity, when this framework is applied to the criminal justice system.
A bookworm and researcher especially related to law and citizenship education. I spend time every day in front of the internet and the campus library.
