WEPHREN: a global prison health research network

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-03-2017-0014
• Published date: 12 June 2017
• Date: 12 June 2017
• Pages: 65-67
• Author: Emma Plugge,Sunita Stürup-Toft,Éamonn J. O’Moore,Lars Møller
• Subject Matter: Health & social care,Criminology & forensic psychology,Prisoner health,Sociology,Sociology of crime & law,Public policy & environmental management,Policing,Criminal justice

Guest editorial

WEPHREN: a global prison health

research network

Emma Plugge, Sunita Stürup-Toft, Éamonn J. O’Moore and Lars Møller

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the WorldwidE Prison Health Research &

Engagement Network (WEPHREN) which aims to improve the evidence base for health and health service

delivery within prison settings and so improve the health and wellbeing of people in prison, reduce health

inequalities and influence prison health policy.

Design/methodology/approach –A viewpoint piece that highlights the need for higher quality health

research in the field of prison health globally and the potential for WEPHREN to help support this.

Findings –This paper presents an overview of the poor health of many people in prison and the inequalities

between countries in terms of research output relating to the health of people in prison. It argues for all those

interested in prison health to work together to produce more practitioner and policy relevant health research.

Originality/value –This editorial highlights a unique global network for prison health.

Paper type Viewpoint

Inequality is widely recognised as an important global problem. Goal 10 of the United Nations’

Sustainable Development Goals is to “reduce inequality within and among countries”

(United Nations, n.d.) and one of the key strategic objectives for the World Health Organisation

(WHO) Europe’s new health policy framework, Health 2020, is “improving health for all and

reducing health inequalities”(World Health Organization, 2013). If we are to tackle health

inequalities effectively then addressing the health needs of people in prison will be an essential

element of any action plan: people in prison and others in the criminal justice system often come

from marginalised and underservedcommunities in the wider populationand so by tackling health

inequalitiesin this population, wecan address wider health inequalities, benefittingnot only those in

prisons but wider society too –we describe this as the “community dividend”.

Few readers of the International Journal of Prisoner Health would dispute the important role that

research into the health of people in prison plays in improving this population’s health and thus

contributing to reducing health inequalities. Research, for example, plays a key role in illuminating

the important public health issues in prisons and in informing the development of appropriate

health and social care services. The published literature has provided important evidence

demonstrating the considerable health needs of prisoners and highlighting the need for effective

health services based on the needs of these particular individuals rather than assuming their

needs are the same as the communities in which the prisons are sited. For example, a number of

systematic reviews synthesising the evidence have shown that when compared to the general

population, the prevalence rates of a number of health problems are considerably higher in

people in prison. People in prison have rates of psychotic illnesses and major depression two to

four times higher, and rates of antisocial personality disorder are about ten times higher than the

general population (Fazel and Danesh, 2002). Compared to the general population of the USA of

similar age, men in prison are two to ten times more likely to be drug dependent and women in

Emma Plugge is a Senior

Clinical Research Fellow at

the Nuffield Department of

Medicine, University of Oxford,

Oxford, UK.

Sunita Stürup-Toft is a Health

and Justice Public Health

Specialist at the WHO UK

Collaborating Centre for Health

in Prisons, Reading, UK.

Éamonn J. O’Moore is the

National Lead for Health and

Justice, Public Health England

and the Director of UK

Collaborating Centre, WHO

Health in Prison Programme at

the Health and Justice Team,

Public Health England,

Reading, UK.

Lars Møller is based at WHO

Europe, Copenhagen, Denmark.

DOI 10.1108/IJPH-03-2017-0014 VOL. 13 NO. 2 2017, pp. 65-67, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1744-9200

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