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Background: The Latin American prison population has grown faster than anywhere else globally over the past two decades, reaching a total of 1.7 million people at any given time. However, research on mental health prevention and treatment interventions in Latin American prisons remains scarce., Aims: This study aimed to systematically review and synthesize research on prison mental health interventions conducted in the region., Methods: We used a two-stage scoping review design guided by the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis. Searches took place in December 2021 in nine databases using descriptors and synonyms. First, all prison mental health research in Latin America was retained. Secondly, using title and abstract screening, all research possibly related to interventions was retained for full text evaluation. Studies reporting interventions were assessed by country, language, institution, population, intervention type, intervention focus and outcomes., Results: N = 34 studies were included in this review. These were 13 case reports, seven expert consensus papers and 14 quantitative studies (four randomized controlled trials, nine cohort studies, one quasi-experimental study). Fourteen interventions were targeted at promoting prosocial behavior, seven studies each aimed to improve mental health and to treat substance use disorders. Six studies involved the treatment of sexual offending behavior, and 3 focused on reducing criminal recidivism. Psychoeducation (n = 12) and motivational interviewing (n = 5) were the most frequent intervention types studied. Promising data from trials showed that anger management, depression, substance use and reoffending could be successfully addressed through interventions., Conclusions: Implementation and effectiveness research of mental health interventions in Latin American prisons is scarce. Addressing mental health, substance use and prosocial behavior outcomes should be considered in future research. There is a particular dearth of controlled trials describing quantifiable outcomes., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Background: Transfer to a psychiatric hospital of prisoners who need inpatient treatment for a mental disorder is an important part of prison healthcare in the UK. It is an essential factor in ensuring the principle of equivalence in the treatment of prisoners. In England and Wales, delays in transferring unwell prisoners to hospital were identified by the 2009 Bradley Report. There has been no subsequent systematic review of progress in so doing nor a corresponding appraisal of transfer arrangements in other parts of the world., Aim: To conduct a systematic review of international literature about transfers of mentally unwell individuals from prison to hospital for the treatment of mental disorder since 2009., Method: Eight databases were searched for data-based publications using terms for prison and transfer to hospital from 1 January 2009 to 4 August 2022. Inclusion criteria limited transfer to arrangements for pre-trial and sentenced prisoners going to a health service hospital, excluding hospital orders made on the conclusion of criminal hearing., Results: In England, four articles were identified, all showing that transfer times remain considerably longer than the national targets of 14 days (range, 14 days to >9 months); one study from Scotland found shorter mean transfer times, but more patients had been transferred to psychiatric intensive care units than to secure forensic hospitals. There were only two studies that investigated prison to hospital transfers for mental disorder from outside the UK and only one reported time-to-transfer data., Conclusions: Findings from this literature review highlight failures to resolve transfer delays in England and provide little evidence about the problem elsewhere. Given the lack of data, it is unclear whether other countries do not have this problem or simply that there has been no research interest in it. A possible confounding factor here is that, in some countries, all treatment for prisoners' mental disorders occurs in prison. However, the principle that prisons are not hospitals seems important when people need inpatient care. Prospective, longitudinal cohort studies are urgently needed to map transfer times and outcomes., (© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Dual harm is the co-occurrence of self-harm and aggression during an individual's lifetime. This behaviour is especially prevalent within criminal justice and forensic settings. The forms of aggression that should be included in the definition of dual harm have not yet been established. This study aimed to use network analysis to inform an evidence-based definition of dual harm by assessing the relationship between self-harm and different forms of aggressive behaviour in young people ( N = 3,579). We used data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Results revealed low correlations between the variables, leading to sparse network models with weak connections. We found that when separated into their distinct forms, aggressive acts and self-harm are only weakly correlated. Our work provides preliminary evidence to assist in understanding and managing dual harm within clinical and forensic settings and informs recommendations for future research., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Shafti, Steeg, de Beurs, Pratt, Forrester, Webb and Taylor.)

Vortex-loop renormalization is used to compute the specific heat of superfluid ^{4}He near the lambda point at various pressures up to 26 bars. The input parameters are the pressure dependence of T_{λ} and the superfluid density, which determine the nonuniversal parameters of the vortex core energy and core size. The results for the specific heat are found to be in good agreement with experimental data, matching the expected universal pressure dependence to within about 5%. The nonuniversal critical amplitude of the specific heat is found to be in reasonable agreement, a factor of four larger than the experiments. We point out problems with recent Gross-Pitaevskii simulations that claimed the vortex-loop percolation temperature did not match the critical temperature of the superfluid phase transition.

Foreign national prisoners include people who are subject to criminal proceedings and have been deprived of their liberty in a state in which they are neither a national nor a resident. In the United Kingdom, they constitute approximately 10,000 individuals and represent around 12% of the total prison population. Significant health disparity exists within the general prison population compared to society at large and foreign national prisoners suffer even higher rates of both physical and mental health disorders. The impact of detention; extradition, deportation and administrative removal legislation; and mental health service provision for foreign national prisoners is discussed. The right to health encompasses access to appropriate healthcare independent of legal status and like all human rights, extends to foreign national prisoners. Change is required and the provision of equivalent care for foreign national prisoners requires global attention., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Purpose: To evaluate pathways through the criminal justice system for 63 prisoners under the care of prison mental health services., Results: A small number (3%) were acutely mentally ill at prison reception, which may reflect the successful operation of liaison and diversion services at earlier stages in the pathway. However, a third (33%) went onto display acute symptoms at later stages. Cases displaying suicide risk at arrest, with a history of in-patient care, were at increased risk of acute deterioration in the first weeks of imprisonment, with a general absence of health assessments for these cases prior to their imprisonment. Inconsistencies in the transfer of mental health information to health files may result in at-risk cases being overlooked, and a lack of standardisation at the court stage results in difficulties determining onward service provision and outcomes., Conclusions: Greater consistency in access to pre-prison health services in the criminal justice system is needed, especially for those with preexisting vulnerabilities, and it may have a role in preventing subsequent deterioration. A single system for health information flow across the whole pathway would be beneficial., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: This study aimed to describe the workings of an urban male remand prison mental health service exploring the key challenges and successes, levels of integration and collaboration with other services., Method: A purposive sampling was used to recruit key prison and healthcare professionals for in-depth interviews. A thematic analysis was used to analyse transcripts based on an initial coding frame of several predefined themes. Other key themes were also identified., Results: Twenty-eight interviews were conducted. Prisoners referred to the service had complex, sometimes acute mental illness requiring specialist assessment and treatment. Key successes of the in-reach service included the introduction of an open referral system, locating a mental health nurse at reception to screen all new prisoners and a zoning system to prioritise urgent or non-urgent cases. Achieving an integrated system of healthcare was challenging because of the numerous internal and external services operating across the prison, a highly transient population, limited time and space to deliver services and difficulties with providing inpatient care (e.g., establishing the criteria for admission and managing patient flow). Collaborative working between prison and healthcare staff was required to enable best care for prisoners., Conclusions: The prison mental health in-reach service worked well in assessing and prioritising those who required specialist mental health care. Although the challenges of working within the prison context limited what the in-reach team could achieve. Further work was needed to improve the unit environment and how best to target and deliver inpatient care within the prison.