International Journal of Prisoner Health: Volume 17 Issue 3

Guest editorial

Morag MacDonald, David Kane

Provision of health care for prisoners during the COVID-19 pandemic: an ethical analysis of challenges and summary of select best practices

Andrea Berkemeier Brelje, Debra A. Pinals

This paper aims to analyze the COVID-19 pandemic response in prisons, focusing on the USA, which imprisons a higher percentage of its population than any other country in the…

Supporting people leaving prisons during COVID-19: perspectives from peer health mentors

Katherine E. McLeod, Kelsey Timler, Mo Korchinski, Pamela Young, Tammy Milkovich, Cheri McBride, Glenn Young, William Wardell, Lara-Lisa Condello, Jane A. Buxton, Patricia A. Janssen, Ruth Elwood Martin

Currently, people leaving prisons face concurrent risks from the COVID-19 pandemic and the overdose public health emergency. The closure or reduction of community services people…

The impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on drug service provision in European prisons

Linda Montanari, Robert Teltzrow, Sara Van Malderen, Roberto Ranieri, José Antonio Martín Peláez, Liesbeth Vandam, Jane Mounteney, Alessandro Pirona, Fadi Meroueh, Isabelle Giraudon, João Matias, Katerina Skarupova, Luis Royuela, Julien Morel d’Arleux

This paper aims to describe the impact of the COVID-19 containment measures on the provision of drug treatment and harm reduction services in European prisons in15 countries…

Trust, efficacy and ethicacy when testing prisoners for COVID-19

Steve Lambert, Dean Wilkinson

The outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 virus and subsequent COVID-19 illness has had a major impact on all levels of society internationally. The…

COVID-19 and incarcerated older adults: a commentary on risk, care and early release in Australia

Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Natasha Ann Ginnivan, Paul Leslie Simpson, Susan Baidawi, Adrienne Withall, Brie Williams, Tony Butler

The purpose of this commentary is to draw upon available literature and practices related to COVID-19 and management of older incarcerated adults in Australia to highlight key…

Locking out the virus: management of a SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in an Italian prison

Ferdinando Cerrato, Michele Esposito, Agnese Drusiani, Iuri Moi, Eugenia Franciosi, Nadialina Assueri, Raffaella Campalastri, Angelo Fioritti

In this paper, the authors present insights and findings drawn from the authors’ experiences of containing a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak…

Coping with prisons? COVID-19 and the functioning of the Polish prison system

Maria Niełaczna

This paper aims to explain the phenomenon of low incidence of COVID-19 in Polish prisons. This paper addresses three questions: was the Polish prison system ready to respond to…

Releasing prisoners during COVID-19: the impact of the support for the early release, perceived insecurity and political orientation on attitudes towards released prisoners in Portugal

Paula Cristina Lopes, Isabel Rocha Pinto, José Mendes Marques, Magdalena Bobowik

This study aims to examine how prisoners’ early release affects other citizens’ perceived insecurity and their attitudes towards those released prisoners, and how citizens’…

41-bis prison regime (Italy): leave no one behind during COVID-19

Silvia Logar, Maggie Leese

This paper aims to provide an overview of the Italian Ministry of Justice response to COVID-19 in Italian prisons, with particular focus on the conditions of super-maximum…

Management of the COVID-19 epidemic in a French immigration detention center

Nicolas Soussy, Laurène Dufayet, Etienne Ravault, Sophie Viron, Charlotte Gorgiard, Lionel Fournier

The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of management of the COVID-19 epidemic in a French immigration detention center.

Emerging issues related to the management of patients in custody during the COVID-19 outbreak in France

Laurène Dufayet, Cyrus Macaigne, Nicolas Soussy, Elizabeth Alcaraz, Charlotte Gorgiard

This paper aims to give an overview of emerging issues relating to the management of patients in custody during the COVID-19 outbreak in France.

Experiences of COVID-19 isolation in Northern Ireland prisons: a qualitative study

Ruth Gray, Barry Rooney, Clare Connolly

The purpose of this study was to capture the experience of people after completing their period of COVID-19 14-day isolation in prison. This study used in-depth interviews to…

Analysing the views of people in custody about the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Scottish Prison Estate

Matthew Maycock, Graeme Dickson

The purpose of this paper is to foreground and analyse the views of people in custody about the management of the COVID-19 pandemic within the Scottish Prison Estate. The project…

Incarcerated individuals’ experiences of COVID-19 in the United States

Carrie Pettus-Davis, Stephanie C. Kennedy, Christopher A. Veeh

This study aims to examine steps taken by correctional staff to prevent COVID-19 from spreading through correctional facilities and explores strategies used by incarcerated…

Response measures to COVID-19 in prisons and other detention centers

Filipa Alves da Costa, Maria Neufeld, Mohamed Hamad, Eric Carlin, Carina Ferreira-Borges

The purpose of this paper is to summarize activities being undertaken by the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe to prevent and control COVID-19 in and…

The epidemic burden on prisons in Lombardy (Italy) during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic: the transmission and measures of prevention in detention facilities

Ruggero Giuliani, Sara Mazzilli, Teresa Sebastiani, Giorgia Cocca, Raffaella Bortolotti, Cristina Cairone, Giuditta Scardina, Guglielmo Arzilli, Lara Tavoschi, Roberto Ranieri

Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, the scientific community highlighted a potential risk of epidemics occurring inside prisons. Consequently, specific operational guidelines were…

COVID-19 and the marginalized: an opinion piece on further measures to address COVID-19 in prisons in Sub-Saharan Africa

Daniel Katey, Anthony Kwame Morgan, Moses Asori, Solomon Twum Ampofo, Robert Kwame Jumah Mpobi

This paper examines prison services and how they can be managed to uphold COVID-19 prevention etiquettes, in light of the contemporary rise in COVID-19 cases across the…

Insights gained from early modelling of COVID-19 to inform the management of outbreaks in UK prisons

Declan Bays, Hannah Williams, Lorenzo Pellis, Jacob Curran-Sebastian, Oscar O'Mara, PHE Joint Modelling Team, Thomas Finnie

In this work, the authors present some of the key results found during early efforts to model the COVID-19 outbreak inside a UK prison. In particular, this study describes outputs…

Lessons learned from keeping NSW’s prisons COVID-free

James Blogg, Colette McGrath, Jennifer Galouzis, Luke Grant, Wendy Hoey

New South Wales (NSW) correctional system houses 30% of prisoners in Australia and at this time has only had a single documented case of COVID-19 amongst its prisoner population…

“Fear can hold you, hope can set you free”. Analysis of Italian prisoner narrative experience of the COVID-19 pandemic

Antonia Sorge, Federica Bassanini, Jennifer Zucca, Emanuela Saita

This study aims to explore the psychological effects of lockdown during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic on people living in an Italian prison. The suspension of family…