Health promotion and young prisoners: a European perspective.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess the health promotion needs of vulnerable young prisoners and the existing health promotion activities in custodial settings in seven European Union (EU) Member States.

Design/methodology/approach: The research comprised two components: the first involved identifying existing health promotion practices. The second involved mapping out young offenders' health promotion needs by carrying out a needs assessment.

Women prisoners, mental health, violence and abuse.

This article examines the specific experiences of women in prison, focusing on previous (and continuing) physical and mental abuse, the consequent health care requirements of women prisoners, the policy response and the availability of suitable health care in prisons across the EU. It draws from an extensive review of the literature on women prisoners across Europe that was part of an on-going European Project funded by the DAPHNE programme of the European Commission, entitled 'DAPHNE Strong'. It also uses the field research from the project collected via surveys and in-depth interviews with key personnel in organisations that work with women prisoners or ex-prisoners and staff with a strategic overview of activity from the ministries of justice, police, prison service and women's support organisations.

Barriers to implementing throughcare for problematic drug users in European prisons.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the extent of throughcare provision for prisoners with problematic drug use. Effective throughcare services have been recognised as important because they help to ensure that any progress in treatment made in prison is continued on release. Previous research demonstrates that examples of good practice in throughcare provision for prisoners with problematic drug use exist in many parts of the world.