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How the prison-to-community transition risk environment influences the experience of men with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorder
Denton, Michelle Foster, Michele Bland, Robert
Denton, Michelle
Foster, Michele
Bland, Robert
Abstract
Previous research has established that people with severe mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorder leaving prison have multiple and complex health, social and economic challenges. How the criminal justice and mental health systems influence the individual prison-to-community transition experience of this population is less well understood. This paper draws on unique qualitative data from a study of 18 men with co-occurring severe mental illness and substance use disorder leaving prison in Queensland, Australia. A repeat in-depth interview method was used to explore the experiences of the men in prison just prior to release and at two points post-release. Two themes are discussed from analysis of interviews: “risk behaviour and relapse” and “once a criminal always a risk”. The findings suggest that individual risk behaviour is structured within a transition risk environment that reduces individual agency, thus facilitating a vicious cycle of release, relapse and reincarceration.
Keywords
community, mental illness, prison, risk behaviour, risk environment, substance use, transition
Date
2017
Type
Journal article
Journal
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology
Book
Volume
50
Issue
1
Page Range
39-55
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Allied Health
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Collections
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
File Access
Controlled