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dc.contributor.authorAndrews, Jessica Y
dc.contributor.authorKinner, Stuart A
dc.date.accessioned2017-07-26T00:37:40Z
dc.date.available2017-07-26T00:37:40Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.identifier.issn1471-2458
dc.identifier.doi10.1186/1471-2458-12-270
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/171843
dc.description.abstractBackground: The prisoner population is characterised by a high burden of disease and social disadvantage, and ex-prisoners are at increased risk of death following release. Much of the excess mortality can be attributed to an increased risk of unnatural death, particularly from drug overdose; however, relatively few studies have investigated the circumstances surrounding drug-related deaths among released prisoners. This study aimed to explore and compare the circumstances of death for those who died from accidental drug-related causes to those who died from all other reportable causes. Methods: A nationwide search of the Australian National Coroners Information System (NCIS) was conducted to identify reportable deaths among ex-prisoners from 2000 to 2007. Using a structured coding form, NCIS records for these cases were interrogated to explore causes and circumstances of death. Results: Coronial records for 388 deceased ex-prisoners were identified. Almost half of these deaths were a result of accidental drug-related causes (45%). The majority of accidental drug-related deaths occurred in a home environment, and poly-substance use at or around the time of death was common, recorded in 72% of drugrelated deaths. Ex-prisoners who died of accidental drug-related causes were on average younger and less likely to be Indigenous, born in Australia, married, or living alone at or around the time of death, compared with those who died from all other reportable causes. Evidence of mental illness or self-harm was less common among accidental drug-related deaths, whereas evidence of previous drug overdose, injecting drug use, history of heroin use and history of drug withdrawal in the previous six months were more common. Conclusions: Drug-related deaths are common among ex-prisoners and often occur in a home (vs. public) setting. They are often associated with use of multiple substances at or around the time of death, risky drug-use patterns, and even among this markedly disadvantaged group, extreme social disadvantage. These findings reflect the complex challenges facing prisoners upon release from custody and indicate a need to consider drug overdose within the wider framework of ex-prisoner experiences, so that preventive programmes can be appropriately structured and targeted.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherBioMed Central
dc.publisher.place10.1186/1471-2458-12-270
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom270-1
dc.relation.ispartofpageto270-7
dc.relation.ispartofjournalBMC Public Health
dc.relation.ispartofvolume12
dc.subject.fieldofresearchPublic Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified
dc.subject.fieldofresearchPublic Health and Health Services
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode111799
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode1117
dc.titleUnderstanding drug-related mortality in released prisoners: A review of national coronial records
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dc.type.codeC - Journal Articles
dcterms.licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
dc.description.versionVersion of Record (VoR)
gro.description.notepublicPage numbers are not for citation purposes. Instead, this article has the unique article number of 270.
gro.rights.copyright© Andrews and Kinner; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. 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 work is properly cited.
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gro.griffith.authorKinner, Stuart A.


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