The outcomes of transitioning between prison and community for people with a history of injecting drug use

Injecting drug use disproportionately contributes to the health and social burden of illicit drug use in Australia. Initiation and ongoing injecting drug use is influenced by a complex interaction of social, health, structural, and policy factors, including the ongoing criminalisation of drug use and the routine incarceration of people for drug-related crime. These factors also mean that people who inject drugs (PWID) are vastly over-represented in the prison and broader criminal justice system. Transition out of prison represents a particularly vulnerable period for PWID that is characterised by challenges associated with social reintegration, housing, employment, accessing health and other support services, and relationships with significant others. Return to dependent patterns of drug use is also common, resulting in very high rates or mortality, morbidity, recidivism and re-incarceration in this population. The Burnet Institute is undertaking Australia’s first prison-to-community prospective cohort study of people with injecting drug histories. This study provides the opportunity for the pre- and post-release analysis of data collected from ~400 participants in the weeks preceding their prison release and in the first three months following their release. A range of post-release outcomes are available for investigation including but not restricted to patterns of drug use, engagement and retention in treatment and health care, self-report overdose, significant other relationships, housing stability and blood borne virus risk. Univariate descriptive and prospective analyses examining the pre- and post-release predictors of outcomes would be undertaken to describe the burden of various outcomes and their association with exposures to help inform policy and practice in the Justice and Health arenas.