About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


19 Crim. Behav. & Mental Health 1 (2009)

handle is hein.journals/cbmh19 and id is 1 raw text is: Criminal Behaviour and Mental Health 19: 1-8 (2009) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/cbm.723 Editorial The future is offender health: evidencing mainstream health services throughout the offender pathway CHARLOTTE RENNIE, JANE SENIOR AND JENNY SHAW, Offender Health Research Network, University of Manchester, UK The degree of civilisation in a society is revealed by entering its prisons. Fyodor Dostoyevsky Almost all prisoners return to society - in most jurisdictions within a short space of time. The World Health Organisation's (WHO) Health in Prisons Project recognises the integral link between the health of any nation's prison population and that of the population at large, noting that: In all countries of the world, it is people from the poorest and most marginalized sections of the population who make up the bulk of those serving prison sentences, and many of them therefore have diseases such as tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections, HIV/ AIDS and mental disorders. These diseases are frequently diagnosed at a late stage. (WHO, 2003) Offenders are a socially excluded population with considerable health needs. Most current research data relate to the health needs of prisoners rather than the whole offender population. A Prison Health Research Network, funded by the Department of Health, was established in England and Wales in 2004, placing particular emphasis on the importance of translational research, bridging the divide between scientific discoveries and their practical application informing service delivery and policy development. A main task was to provide a research- driven evidence base to inform improvements underway in health service provi- sion in prisons in England and Wales as part of the National Health Service (NHS) and Her Majesty's Prison Service clinical improvement partnership (HMPS/NHS, 1999). Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 19: 1-8 (2009) DOI: 10.1002/cbm