dc.contributor.author | Kinner, Stuart A | |
dc.contributor.author | Forsyth, Simon J | |
dc.date.accessioned | 2018-01-19T06:14:35Z | |
dc.date.available | 2018-01-19T06:14:35Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2016 | |
dc.identifier.issn | 1932-6203 | |
dc.identifier.doi | 10.1371/journal.pone.0157328 | |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10072/100600 | |
dc.description.abstract | Background
People released from prison are at increased risk of death. However, no country has established
a system for routine monitoring of mortality in this population. The aims of this study
were to (a) evaluate a system for routine monitoring of deaths after release from prison in
Australia and (b) estimate the number of deaths annually within 28 and 365 days of prison
release from 2000 to 2013.
Methods
Persons released from prison and deaths were identified in records held by Centrelink, Australia’s
national provider of unemployment benefits. Estimates generated in this manner
were compared with those from a study that probabilistically linked correctional records with
the National Death Index (NDI), for each calendar year 2000 to 2007. Using Centrelink
data, national estimates of mortality within 28 and 365 days of release were produced for
each calendar year 2000 to 2013.
Findings
Compared with estimates based on linkage with the NDI, the estimated crude mortality rate
based on Centrelink records was on average 52% lower for deaths within 28 days of release
and 24% lower for deaths within 365 days of release. Nationally, over the period 2000 to
2013, we identified an average of 32 deaths per year within 28 days of release and 188
deaths per year within 365 days of release. The crude mortality rate for deaths within both
28 and 365 days of release increased over this time.
Conclusions
Using routinely collected unemployment benefits data we detected the majority of deaths in
people recently released from prison in Australia. These data may be sufficient for routine monitoring purposes and it may be possible to adopt a similar approach in other countries.
Routine surveillance of mortality in ex-prisoners serves to highlight their extreme vulnerability
and provides a basis for evaluating policy reforms designed to reduce preventable
deaths. | |
dc.description.peerreviewed | Yes | |
dc.language | English | |
dc.language.iso | eng | |
dc.publisher | Public Library of Sciences | |
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom | e0157328-1 | |
dc.relation.ispartofpageto | e0157328-11 | |
dc.relation.ispartofissue | 6 | |
dc.relation.ispartofjournal | PLoS One | |
dc.relation.ispartofvolume | 11 | |
dc.subject.fieldofresearch | Sociology not elsewhere classified | |
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode | 441099 | |
dc.title | Development and Validation of a National System for Routine Monitoring of Mortality in People Recently Released from Prison | |
dc.type | Journal article | |
dc.type.description | C1 - Articles | |
dc.type.code | C - Journal Articles | |
dcterms.license | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ | |
dc.description.version | Version of Record (VoR) | |
gro.faculty | Arts, Education & Law Group, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice | |
gro.rights.copyright | © 2016 Kinner, Forsyth. This is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any
medium, provided the original author and source are
credited. | |
gro.hasfulltext | Full Text | |
gro.griffith.author | Kinner, Stuart A. | |