High risk of overdose death following release from prison: variations in mortality during a 15-year observation period

Abstract

There is an elevated risk of death from drug overdose among individuals released from Norwegian prisons, peaking in the first week. The risk has reduced since 2000-04, but is greatest for those serving 3-12 months compared with shorter or longer periods.

The Mortality After Release from Incarceration Consortium (MARIC): Protocol for a multi-national, individual participant data meta-analysis

“…There is an established literature documenting an elevated risk of premature death in the first four weeks after release from incarceration [12][13][14][15][16]. However, the specificity of this increased risk window -and beyond -has not been well characterized.…”

“…However, their analyses were based on suicide deaths only and were restricted to the five studies (out of nine) with sufficient published data to be included in the meta-analysis. Merrall et al [12] conducted a meta-analysis of studies examining drug-related deaths follow-ing prison release and reported an acute elevation in drug-related deaths in the first two weeks post-release. However, their analyses (a) were restricted to a single cause of death; (b) included only six studies that published their findings in a way that permitted metaanalysis; (c) were restricted to two-week intervals up to 12 weeks post-release, due to power limitations; and (d) did not disaggregate findings by specific sub-populations, limiting the generalisability of the findings.…”

Fengselslivet som en livstruende byrde

“…Overdødeligheten ved selvmord etter soning er derimot registrert blant annet knyttet til rus-, marginaliserings-og integreringsproblemer (bl.a. Kjelsberg og Laake, 2010;Bukten et al, 2017).…”

Asistencial and therapeutic continuity after release from prison: an urgent problem that requires solutions. The model applied in catalonian prisons

“…Amongst the factors related to increased mortality after release from prison is abuse of heroin and other opiates [8][9][10][11][12][13] , alcohol abuse is another factor, along with treatment with antidepressants in prison or recidivism, while some other factors such as being married may act as a protective factor 8 . Although the main cause of death after release is from overdose, the potential causes are numerous 6 and include chronic organic pathologies (cancer or heart disease), infectious diseases (such as HIV) 14 , or acts of violence (suicide, homicide or accidents).…”