@article{ref1,
title="Male drugs-related deaths in the fortnight after release from prison: Scotland, 1996-99",
journal="Addiction",
year="2003",
author="Bird, Sheila M. and Hutchinson, Sharon J.",
volume="98",
number="2",
pages="185-190",
abstract="AIMS: To assess if 15-35-year-old males released after 14 + days' imprisonment in Scotland, 1996-99, had a higher drugs-related death rate in 2 weeks after release than during subsequent 10 weeks; higher than expected death rate from other causes; and if drugs-related deaths in the first fortnight were three times as many as prison suicides. DESIGN: Confidential linkage of ex-prisoner database against deaths. SETTING: Scotland's male prisons and young offenders' institutions during July to December 1996-99; 19 486 index releases after 14+ days' incarceration. MEASUREMENTS: Relative risk of drugs-related death in the first 2 weeks after release (34 deaths) versus subsequent 10 weeks (23). Other causes of death (21) relative to expectation. Drugs-related deaths in first 2 weeks after release relative to suicides in prison (12). FINDINGS: Drugs-related mortality in 1996-99 was seven times higher (95% CI: 3.3-16.3) in the 2 weeks after release than at other times at liberty and 2.8 times higher than prison suicides (95% CI: 1.5-3.5) by males aged 15-35 years who had been incarcerated for 14+ days. We estimated one drugs-related death in the 2 weeks after release per 200 adult male injectors released from 14 + days' incarceration. Non-drugs-related deaths in the 12 weeks after release were 4.9 times (95% CI: 2.8-7.0) the 4.3 deaths expected. CONCLUSION: Investment in, and evaluation of, prison-based interventions is needed to reduce substantially recently released drugs-related deaths.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0965-2140",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}