Poor health and social outcomes for ex-prisoners with a history of mental disorder: A longitudinal study

Abstract

Objective: To examine the association between self-reported lifetime diagnosis of mental disorder and health-related outcomes in prisoners during the first six months after release.Methods: We interviewed 1,324 adult prisoners in Queensland, Australia, within six weeks of expected release and one, three and six months post-release. Outcomes of interest included health service access, housing, employment, substance use and criminal activity. We used multivariate logistic regression to investigate the association between self-reported, lifetime diagnosis of mental disorder and these health-related outcomes post-release, adjusting for pre-existing disadvantage.Results: 43.4% of participants rep..