A research survey funded by the federal government has reported that more than half (51%) of people locked up in Australian prisons were previously diagnosed with a mental health condition, including alcohol and other drug-use disorders.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) national prisoner health data collection survey also found that 73% of prison entrants said they had used illicit drugs at least once in the past 12 months.
Most survey respondents (72%) who were discharged from prison settings reported that they were happy with the prison healthcare services, rating them as either ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’.
Approximately 62,000 people either enter or are released from the Australian prison system every year.
AIHW spokesperson Amanda Donge explained that four in five prisoners (80%) reported their physical health improved or stayed the same while in prison.
“A similar proportion (81%) reported their mental health improved or stayed the same while in prison,” Donge said.
“Adults aged 18-44 in the general community (65%) were about 1.5 times more likely than prison entrants (42%) and prison dischargees (41%) of the same age to rate their health as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’.”
“First Nations dischargees were more likely to rate their physical health as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent’ (45%) than non-Indigenous dischargees (37%).”
AIHW’s sixth report on ‘The health of people in Australia’s prisons 2022’ was published on Wednesday.
The survey interviewed 371 people entering prison during a two-week period, 431 prisoners who were due to be released during the data collection period or in the following four weeks, and relied on data collected from 4,500 visitors to the prison health clinic and another 7,100 people who received medications while in prison.
The data, which did not include Victoria, relied on information gathered from 73 of 87 prisons across the country to better understand what factors affected people’s health, wellbeing and social factors before, during and after their incarceration.
Detainees reported poorer physical and mental health than the general Australian population, and many people entering prison came from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Four in 10 people (43%) reported experiencing homelessness in the 30 days before entering prison, 46% were unemployed, and 5.1% were studying.
About one-third of respondents (31%) said they had stayed in school until Year 9 or below.
“Many people in prison come from disadvantaged backgrounds, with poorer physical and mental health outcomes than the general population,” Donges said.
“They are less likely to have accessed health care services in the community, and more likely to have a history of risky behaviours that can affect health and wellbeing.”
A quarter of respondents (25%) aged 18-24 said that one or more of their parents or carers had been in prison when they were a child.
This reporting was more than twice as likely among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrants (36%) than non-Indigenous entrants (15%).
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