Pre-sentence mental health service use predicts post-sentence mortality in a population cohort of first-time adult offenders
Purpose - With the high risk of death associated with mental disorders and their increased prevalence in offenders, it is judicious to investigate the risk of post-sentence mortality with respect to offenders’ psychiatric treatment history. Methods - Using linked administrative data for a whole-popu...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
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Springer Medizin
2015
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40789 |
| _version_ | 1848755965370826752 |
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| author | Sodhi-Berry, N. Knuiman, M. Alan, Janine Morgan, V. Preen, D. |
| author_facet | Sodhi-Berry, N. Knuiman, M. Alan, Janine Morgan, V. Preen, D. |
| author_sort | Sodhi-Berry, N. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Purpose - With the high risk of death associated with mental disorders and their increased prevalence in offenders, it is judicious to investigate the risk of post-sentence mortality with respect to offenders’ psychiatric treatment history. Methods - Using linked administrative data for a whole-population retrospective cohort of first-time adult offenders (n = 25,537) sentenced to either prison or non-custodial orders in Western Australia, we determined the risk and baseline predictors of post-sentence mortality. Results - Of 192 deaths within 2 years of sentence completion, deaths from injury/poisoning (55.6 %), cancer (13.3 %) and cardiovascular disorders (9.7 %) were the most common. Pre-sentence history of mental health service (MHS) contact doubled the risk of post-sentence all-cause and injury/poisoning-related mortality. Physical comorbidity was the strongest predictor of mortality irrespective of pre-sentence MHS contact. Baseline history of attempted self-harm and being an Indigenous male were associated with an elevated risk of death in offenders with a pre-sentence MHS contact. In offenders without a pre-sentence MHS contact, socio-economic disadvantage and incarceration almost doubled the risk of dying from any cause and injury/poisoning. Conclusions -Mortality risk in the 2 years following sentence completion is associated with pre-sentence health service use and a range of socio-demographic factors for both incarcerated and non-custodial offenders. The opportunity afforded by imprisonment could be exploited by provision of funding to identify and treat mental illness, impart preventive health education addressing modifiable risk factors and provide transitional care to community-based services, all of which may help reduce preventable post-sentence deaths. Diversion to non-custodial sentences is also a plausible option. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:04:41Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-40789 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T09:04:41Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Springer Medizin |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-407892017-09-13T14:02:52Z Pre-sentence mental health service use predicts post-sentence mortality in a population cohort of first-time adult offenders Sodhi-Berry, N. Knuiman, M. Alan, Janine Morgan, V. Preen, D. Non-custodial Mortality Mental health service Re-entry Prison Purpose - With the high risk of death associated with mental disorders and their increased prevalence in offenders, it is judicious to investigate the risk of post-sentence mortality with respect to offenders’ psychiatric treatment history. Methods - Using linked administrative data for a whole-population retrospective cohort of first-time adult offenders (n = 25,537) sentenced to either prison or non-custodial orders in Western Australia, we determined the risk and baseline predictors of post-sentence mortality. Results - Of 192 deaths within 2 years of sentence completion, deaths from injury/poisoning (55.6 %), cancer (13.3 %) and cardiovascular disorders (9.7 %) were the most common. Pre-sentence history of mental health service (MHS) contact doubled the risk of post-sentence all-cause and injury/poisoning-related mortality. Physical comorbidity was the strongest predictor of mortality irrespective of pre-sentence MHS contact. Baseline history of attempted self-harm and being an Indigenous male were associated with an elevated risk of death in offenders with a pre-sentence MHS contact. In offenders without a pre-sentence MHS contact, socio-economic disadvantage and incarceration almost doubled the risk of dying from any cause and injury/poisoning. Conclusions -Mortality risk in the 2 years following sentence completion is associated with pre-sentence health service use and a range of socio-demographic factors for both incarcerated and non-custodial offenders. The opportunity afforded by imprisonment could be exploited by provision of funding to identify and treat mental illness, impart preventive health education addressing modifiable risk factors and provide transitional care to community-based services, all of which may help reduce preventable post-sentence deaths. Diversion to non-custodial sentences is also a plausible option. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40789 10.1007/s00127-014-0919-8 Springer Medizin restricted |
| spellingShingle | Non-custodial Mortality Mental health service Re-entry Prison Sodhi-Berry, N. Knuiman, M. Alan, Janine Morgan, V. Preen, D. Pre-sentence mental health service use predicts post-sentence mortality in a population cohort of first-time adult offenders |
| title | Pre-sentence mental health service use predicts post-sentence mortality in a population cohort of first-time adult offenders |
| title_full | Pre-sentence mental health service use predicts post-sentence mortality in a population cohort of first-time adult offenders |
| title_fullStr | Pre-sentence mental health service use predicts post-sentence mortality in a population cohort of first-time adult offenders |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pre-sentence mental health service use predicts post-sentence mortality in a population cohort of first-time adult offenders |
| title_short | Pre-sentence mental health service use predicts post-sentence mortality in a population cohort of first-time adult offenders |
| title_sort | pre-sentence mental health service use predicts post-sentence mortality in a population cohort of first-time adult offenders |
| topic | Non-custodial Mortality Mental health service Re-entry Prison |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/40789 |