Workshop: Transforming four walls into bridges: embracing solidarity via prison health
Authors:   Organised by: University of the West of England Chair persons: Nasrul Ismail - UK
Published: November 2019

The global population has grown by 20% over the last 15 years. At the same time, the prison population has increased by 30%. Circa 10.4 million people currently incarcerated in prisons worldwide. Despite being an opportunistic setting to gain access to a population at high risk of morbidity, the success of health interventions in prisons varies, while overcrowding and fiscal austerity have intensified the institutional struggle in recent years.

In keeping with the theme of “building bridges for solidarity and public health”, this interdisciplinary panel of five diverse presentations will deliver a 90-minute workshop on prison health. It aims to examine the following questions: What is the public health approach to imprisonment? How have legal structures contributed to the improvement in prison health across Europe? What interventions work in terms of addressing the health deficits experienced by prisoners? What are the emerging threats to prison health policies and their delivery?

It has been 18 years since a prison health panel was convened at the EUPHA Conference. The time is now ripe for a new, radical investigation into these debates from research, policy and practice perspectives.

From a macro-level perspective, the first presentation will problematise imprisonment from egalitarianism and social justice standpoints, and analyse how health justice is everybody’s business. Taking a legal and policy view, the second presentation will explore how the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights over the last 20 years has influenced the international minimum standards on communicable diseases prevention in European prisons.

Drawing upon the meso-level interventions, the third presentation will illustrate how a horticulture programme can provide some antidotes to the high prevalence of violence, self-harm and suicide in UK prisons, by instilling the notion of hope among prisoners. Subsequently, through an analysis of 1,904 prisoners’ longitudinal data from a study conducted in the Netherlands, the fourth presentation will articulate the importance of understanding individual and institutional risk factors in respect of prisoners’ mental health in order to deliver timely interventions. The final presentation will assess how macroeconomic austerity solidifies prison health efficacy and deepens health inequalities at the micro level.

The majority of the panel members have a strong social media presence. With more than 20k followers on Twitter and Facebook, live updates on the key messages from this panel will be facilitated. Besides responding to conference delegates, the chairperson will field questions from social media platforms to promote an interactive experience.

This panel will reiterate that prison health is at the epicentre of the public health agenda. Giving it such proper deference will acknowledge that prisons are a microcosm of our society and demonstrate our solidarity with a segment of the community that is often excluded.

Key messages

This workshop offers the latest research, policy and practice developments on prison health. It will stimulate impactful debates in which learning can be adopted by delegates across European countries.