Meeting the needs of prisoners with a drug or alcohol problem: No mean feat

McKeganey, Neil; Russell, Christopher; Hamilton-Barclay, Tiffany; Barnard, Marina; Page, Geoffrey William; Lloyd, Charlie; Grace, Sharon; Templeton, Lorna; Bain, Carole

doi:10.3109/09687637.2016.1150965

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Providing effective in-prison programming is consequently a pressing concern. However, the prison environment can profoundly shape the form and content of such services in ways that reduce their utility and viability (Frank et al, 2015;Kothari et al, 2002;McKeganey et al, 2016). Our analysis of the needle exchange at PI is both a demonstration and cautionary tale about how otherwise beneficial programs can be compromised if such prison-related attributes are not (or cannot be) prospectively addressed and incorporated into the delivery of such programing.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As such, there is a need for drug-related programming in prison to support individuals who might want to reduce or cease their drug use or to use drugs more safely. At the same time, the drug use practices of incarcerated individuals can also limit the effectiveness or viability of certain programs (Frank et al, 2015;Kothari et al, 2002;McKeganey et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sticking points: Incarcerated women's views on barriers to a prison needle exchange program

et al. 2023

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While prison needle exchange programs, or prison needle and syringe programs, have existed in different parts of the world since the 1990s, little is known about how currently incarcerated people perceive them—particularly in Canada, where such programs have only recently been implemented. This study explores incarcerated women's perceptions of a recently implemented prison needle exchange program using in-depth, semi-structured qualitative interviews with 56 federally incarcerated women in Western Canada. In particular, we explore the barriers that women perceive in accessing the prison needle exchange program. These perceived barriers contributed to our participants’ negative views of the prison needle exchange program as well as their overwhelming lack of support for its implementation. Our participants felt that the prison needle exchange program acts as an obstacle to sobriety and could increase different types of harm—including encouraging injection drug use and contributing to overdoses—within the prison. Participants also identified other barriers to using the prison needle exchange program, including a perceived lack of confidentiality/anonymity for users of the program and that the prison needle exchange program itself is structurally incompatible with the rules and operations of a prison system that continues to criminalize drugs. Using an implementation science framework, we argue that this situation accentuates the need for significant consultations with incarcerated people about the operation of such programs, and for funds to support other programs that target participant-identified root causes of substance misuse, such as programs that address past trauma and victimization. At the same time, we caution that some barriers may be inherent in how prisons are structured.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sticking points: Incarcerated women's views on barriers to a prison needle exchange program

et al. 2023

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“…While incarceration rates have declined since 2009 (Kaeble & Cowhig, 2018 ), the release rates have not declined with around 600,000 people released from state and federal prisons annually (Carson, 2018 ). For these individuals who are released, there are an array of challenges faced upon reentry with a common challenge being the high prevalence of SUDs (Begun et al, 2016 ; McKeganey et al, 2015 ; Wallace et al, 2016 ). A review of research over the past 50 years focusing on drug and alcohol use among incarcerated individuals has yielded SUD rates ranging from 10 to 61% for men (Fazel et al, 2017 ).…”

Section: Substance Use Disorders and Related Service Needsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…he’s going to be facing the same things that he faced prior to being locked up”: perceptions of service needs for substance use disorders

2023

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Background High rates of substance use disorders (SUDs) exist among justice-involved populations (i.e., persons incarcerated or recently released). SUD treatment is crucial for justice-involved populations as unmet treatment need increases reincarceration risk and impacts other behavioral health sequalae. A limited understanding of health needs (i.e. health literacy) can be one reason for unmet treatment needs. Social support is critical to seeking SUD treatment and post-incarceration outcomes. However, little is known about how social support partners understand and influence SUD service utilization among formerly incarcerated persons. Methods This mixed method, exploratory study utilized data from a larger study comprised of formerly incarcerated men (n = 57) and their selected social support partners (n = 57) to identify how social support partners understand the service needs of their loved ones recently released from prison who returned to the community with a diagnosis of a SUD. Qualitative data included 87 semi-structured interviews with the social support partners covering post-release experiences with their formerly incarcerated loved one. Univariates were conducted on the quantitative service utilization data and demographics to complement the qualitative data. Results Majority of the formerly incarcerated men identified as African American (91%) averaging 29 years of age (SD = 9.58). Most social support partners were a parent (49%). Qualitative analyses revealed that most social support partners avoided using or did not know the language to use regarding the formerly incarcerated person’s SUD. Treatment needs were often attributed to focus on peer influences and spending more time at their residence/housing. Analyses did reveal that when treatment needs were recommended in the interviews, social support partners reported employment and education services to be most needed for the formerly incarcerated person. These findings align with the univariate analysis with their loved ones reporting employment (52%) and education (26%) as their most reported service utilized post-release, compared to only 4% using substance abuse treatment. Conclusion Results provide preliminary evidence suggesting social support partners do influence the types of services accessed by formerly incarcerated persons with SUD. The findings of this study emphasize the need for psychoeducation during and after incarceration for individuals with SUDs and their social support partners.

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“…Attempts to create more positive environments and attention to the different needs of the prisoner population have led to an increased departmentalization of many European prisons. Increasingly, we see the construction of specialized prison wings to house or treat prisoners with drug problems, sex offenders, and young offenders (Kolind & Duke, 2016;McKeganey et al, 2016). In this paper, we are primarily interested in the growth of designated drug treatment wings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Space and ethnic identification in a Danish prison

Haller

Kolind

2017

Punishment & Society

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Ethnicity has come to play an increasing role in contemporary Danish prison life. This development not only reflects the growing number of prisoners in Danish prisons with ethnic minority backgrounds. It also reflects changes in prison spatial policy and institutional classifications. Based on seven months of fieldwork in a Danish high security prison, we investigate how such changes at the institutional level and at the level of policy have affected prisoner’s everyday ethnic identifications. We focus especially on the way prisoners reinforce and essentialize ethnic differences by reference to institutional spatial divisions; particularly the division between regular wings and drug treatment wings. We find that ethnic Danish prisoners spending time in a treatment wing are often viewed as ‘soft’ and ‘weak’ by prisoners with ethnic minority backgrounds in regular wings, whereas these prisoners in regular wings are in turn perceived as troublemakers and chaotic by the ethnic Danish prisoners in drug treatment. We also show how ethnic categories are at times blurred in actual practice. We conclude by discussing the implication for policy and practice; especially, we debate whether new spatial prison policies may unintentionally partake in accentuating ethnic stereotypical thinking.

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Meeting the needs of prisoners with a drug or alcohol problem: No mean feat

Cited by 6 publications

References 19 publications

Sticking points: Incarcerated women's views on barriers to a prison needle exchange program

Sticking points: Incarcerated women's views on barriers to a prison needle exchange program

“…he’s going to be facing the same things that he faced prior to being locked up”: perceptions of service needs for substance use disorders

Space and ethnic identification in a Danish prison

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