The legalisation of tattooing in prisons, as well as the provision of access by inmates to professional tattooists during incarceration, have remained contentious issues between custodial and health authorities in most Western prisons. This article examines the arguments of both stakeholders as well as the attitudes of inmates vis-à-vis tattooing, and suggests a multifaceted approach that takes...

Background: To estimate the prevalence and co-occurrence of health-related needs among young people aged 18 to 24 years transitioning out of adult prisons. Methods: Data came from face-to-face, confidential interviews with adult prisoners aged 18–24 years in seven adult prisons in Queensland, Australia. We identified the prevalence and co-occurrence of overlapping health-related needs using an ...

Prisons are not normal environments. They are, as Bottoms (1999) observed, not only ‘total institutions’ in the sense that they encompass inmates’ lives to an extent qualitatively greater than other social institutions (Goffman, 1961), they are physical places (mostly surrounded by high walls) with a specific history and ethos that are designed to be places of punishment. Prisons bring troubled...

The inmates of prisons are restricted to a rigid diet which they are unable to vary or supplement, and upon which they may have to subsist for long periods of time. It is therefore of cardinal importance that the diet scales provided for them should be nutritionally adequate in every respect. There are numerous historical reports of malnutrition occurring in prisons. Between 1939 and 1944 it wa...

Recent evidence indicate that prison population is at risk of HIV, even though they are one of the most neglected risk group in the area of prevention and management (Joshua 2004). By late 1992, HIV seropositive prisoners had been detected in the Nigeria prisons (Orubuloye et al. 1995). A prevalence of 8.7 %, far higher than the Nation’s average of 6 % was reported for Nigerian prisons (Akpan e...

As a work in progress, we are currently investigating if current offender technology used in prisons worldwide meets the needs of prisoners who have low computer and reading literacy. In addition to the obvious requirements of a prisoner’s persona, researchers have identified that emotions in prisons can be heightened and usability issues with technology can be disruptive and result in unwanted...

In Britain doctors and others concerned with the treatment of offenders in prison may consult the Butler Report (see Focus, pp 157) and specialist journals, but these sources are concerned with the system in Britain only. In America the situation is different, both in organization and in certain attitudes. Dr Peter L Sissons has therefore provided a companion article to that of Dr Paul Bowden (...