How the prison-to-community transition risk environment influences the experience of men with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder
Author(s)
Denton, M.
Foster, Michele M.
Bland, R.
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2015
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Previous research has established that people with severe mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorder leaving prison have multiple and complex health, social and economic challenges. How the criminal justice and mental health systems influence the individual prison-to-community transition experience of this population is less well understood. This paper draws on unique qualitative data from a study of 18 men with co-occurring severe mental illness and substance use disorder leaving prison in Queensland, Australia. A repeat in-depth interview method was used to explore the experiences of the men in prison just prior ...
View more >Previous research has established that people with severe mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorder leaving prison have multiple and complex health, social and economic challenges. How the criminal justice and mental health systems influence the individual prison-to-community transition experience of this population is less well understood. This paper draws on unique qualitative data from a study of 18 men with co-occurring severe mental illness and substance use disorder leaving prison in Queensland, Australia. A repeat in-depth interview method was used to explore the experiences of the men in prison just prior to release and at two points post-release. Two themes are discussed from analysis of interviews: “risk behaviour and relapse” and “once a criminal always a risk”. The findings suggest that individual risk behaviour is structured within a transition risk environment that reduces individual agency, thus facilitating a vicious cycle of release, relapse and reincarceration.
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View more >Previous research has established that people with severe mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorder leaving prison have multiple and complex health, social and economic challenges. How the criminal justice and mental health systems influence the individual prison-to-community transition experience of this population is less well understood. This paper draws on unique qualitative data from a study of 18 men with co-occurring severe mental illness and substance use disorder leaving prison in Queensland, Australia. A repeat in-depth interview method was used to explore the experiences of the men in prison just prior to release and at two points post-release. Two themes are discussed from analysis of interviews: “risk behaviour and relapse” and “once a criminal always a risk”. The findings suggest that individual risk behaviour is structured within a transition risk environment that reduces individual agency, thus facilitating a vicious cycle of release, relapse and reincarceration.
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Journal Title
Australian & New Zealand Journal of Criminology
Note
This publication has been entered into Griffith Research Online as an Advanced Online Version.
Subject
Criminology not elsewhere classified
Criminology
Psychology
Law