Impacts of Imprisonment and Remand in Custody
Executive Summary
Research shows that imprisonment has negative impacts on the physical and mental health of incarcerated individuals, and these impacts persist after release.
It is widely recognised that lack of appropriate access to healthcare in prison can have adverse effects on the health and wellbeing of incarcerated people. Government findings in multiple Australian jurisdictions have identified that people in prison experience numerous barriers to accessing healthcare of an equivalent standard to that available in the community.
The ‘demand for health services clearly outweighs the supply of health services’ in NSW correctional centres, and most NSW correctional centres fail to provide access to Justice Health & Forensic Mental Health network general practitioners and primary health nurses within required timeframes. Older people in prison face additional challenges in accessing appropriate health care.
Identified limitations on access to appropriate healthcare in prison include:
- lengthy waiting periods to see general practitioners, primary health nurses and specialist health services, meaning that even chronic health conditions may become acute because they are left untreated;
- inadequate inpatient facilities and lack of medical services available at some regional prisons;
- inadequate psychiatric beds and inadequate time for medical staff to conduct comprehensive medical assessments of prisoners;
- a shortage of health staff in correctional centres, particularly in rural and remote areas, and particularly for Aboriginal health worker roles and mental health nurses;
- people on remand, people serving short sentences, and people serving long sentences all face difficulty accessing alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment in custody; and
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are less likely to be able to access culturally safe healthcare in prison than in the community.
The experience of incarceration may result in poor mental health outcomes, both by exacerbating existing mental health conditions and causing new experiences of poor mental health. Adverse mental health impacts may be especially pronounced for people with backgrounds of trauma, and may compromise a person’s ability to engage with and benefit from support upon release.
Other impacts of imprisonment may include loss of housing, barriers to employment and social exclusion, with the potential for the impact and flow-on effects of incarceration, such as reduced access to employment and a lack of stable housing, to be lifelong.
Longer periods of incarceration may have greater negative impacts on housing. Social housing tenants who experience incarceration may be forced to relinquish tenancies while in prison if the period of incarceration they experience exceeds the period of time they are permitted to be absent from their housing.
Incarceration has significant negative impacts on families and communities, especially on the children of incarcerated individuals, which may affect families and communities in different ways. The family and community impacts of incarceration are more pronounced for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly women. Loss of culture and disconnection from Country and community due to imprisonment may have adverse impacts on the social and emotional well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who experience incarceration.
Even short periods of incarceration, including remand, can have wide-ranging adverse impacts and may be linked with subsequent contact with the criminal process. People in prison serving short sentences are less likely to be able to access programs or training, and may face more limited access to medical treatment, including treatment for alcohol and other drug issues. Research shows that people who receive non-custodial penalties are significantly less likely to be re-convicted within the next 12 months than those who receive sentences of imprisonment, and it there is a growing body of evidence indicating that incarceration is of limited effectiveness in reducing recidivism when compared with community-based alternatives.
In respect of young people, it is widely recognised that ‘incarceration fails to meet the developmental … needs of youth offenders and is limited in its ability to provide appropriate rehabilitation’.
Note: Citations have been omitted from the text below. Click to access the PDF version of this Executive Summary at left to view a fully referenced version.