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Centre for Adolescent Health

Health after release from prison

  • Background and aims

    The HARP study is the world’s largest prospective cohort study of adults released from prison across two states (Queensland and Western Australia). A total of 2,701 people were interviewed within 6 weeks of expected release from prison; survey data were combined with data from prison medical records and, through retrospective and prospective data linkage, with a range of state and Commonwealth health data, and correctional records. The cohort includes >500 women and >1000 Indigenous Australians; more than one in four participants was aged <25 years at baseline.

    The overarching aim of the study is to:

    1. Provide a platform for describing the health-related trajectories of people who experience incarceration in Australia
    2. Identifying links between poor health outcomes and re-incarceration
    3. Calculating the direct healthcare costs associated with poor health outcomes after release from prison.

    The project goals are as follows:

    1. Compare the health-related experiences of Indigenous and non-Indigenous ex-prisoners in two Australian states, during the first two years post-release;
    2. Identify barriers to, and facilitators of, access to appropriate community-based health care for Indigenous and non-Indigenous ex-prisoners;
    3. Explore the health consequences of prisoners’ exclusion from Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), both in custody and post-release;
    4. Identify pathways linking health care utilisation, physical and psychiatric morbidity, mortality and recidivism among Indigenous and non-Indigenous ex-prisoners;
    5. Explore the impact of mental illness on physical health, health service utilisation and offending outcomes among Indigenous and non-Indigenous ex-prisoners.

    Collaborators

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    Funders

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    Key papers

    Young, J. T., Heffernan, E., Borschmann, R., Ogloff, J. R., Spittal, M. J., Kouyoumdjian, F. G., ... & Kinner, S. A. (2018). Dual diagnosis of mental illness and substance use disorder and injury in adults recently released from prison: a prospective cohort study.ÌýThe Lancet Public Health,Ìý3(5), e237-e248. DOI:Ìý

    Borschmann, R., Thomas, E., Moran, P., Carroll, M., Heffernan, E., Spittal, M. J., ... & Kinner, S. A. (2017). Self-harm following release from prison: a prospective data linkage study.ÌýAustralian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry,Ìý51(3), 250-259. DOI:

    Winter, R. J., Young, J. T., Stoové, M., Agius, P. A., Hellard, M. E., & Kinner, S. A. (2016). Resumption of injecting drug use following release from prison in Australia.ÌýDrug and alcohol dependence,Ìý168, 104-111. DOI:

    Key contact

    Chief investigator, Professor Stuart Kinner. Ìý