| Major conference planned to promote prison health
Recent statistics from England and Wales indicate that nine out ten prisoners have a diagnosable mental health problem, substance misuse problem or both, while four out of five prisoners smoke, in comparison to one in four of the general population.
With these statistics in mind the Health Promotion Agency for Northern Ireland (HPA) and the Northern Ireland Prison Service are planning to hold the conference, Promoting Healthy Prisons, later this year with the aim of raising awareness of health issues in prison. This will be the first conference of its kind where the focus will be on the health of the whole prison population, which includes the health of all staff, not just of prisoners.
Dr Brian Gaffney, Chief Executive of the HPA, said: “Promoting the health of prisoners is very important in helping to reduce the risk of re-offending and assisting prisoners to lead useful lives in the future. The factors which make someone more likely to re-offend, for example, lack of education or employment, substance misuse, poor housing, and weak social and family links, are the same factors which contribute to poor health.
“Ensuring the health and wellbeing of employees who work in the prison setting is also a priority as this can help reduce sickness rates and accidents as well as increasing performance and productivity. It can also improve staff-prisoner relationships which may help reduce prisoner self-harm.”
The conference will provide the opportunity to share information about what is effective for improving health in prisons, and to raise awareness and understanding of what the current health issues are, as well as offering a chance to highlight the existing good work already carried out in prisons here. In addition to the key themes of the conference, there will be a number of sessions running during the day focusing on issues such as resettlement, substance misuse, mental health and workforce development.
Robin Masefield, Director General, Northern Ireland Prison Service said; “Safety, respect, purposeful activity and resettlement are the four constituent components of the healthy prison agenda and the Northern Ireland Prison Service actively promotes these ideals to reduce the risk of re-offending when the prisoner is released into the community. The Prison Service works closely with a wide range of partner agencies in delivering a programme of constructive activity in a positive working environment.
He added: “Prison-based health promotion gives access to a population that would normally be very difficult to reach. I welcome this initiative by the Health Promotion Agency; the conference will provide an excellent opportunity to discuss some major issues and it is hoped it will help create a future framework for taking healthy prisons forward.”
The Promoting Healthy Prisons conference will take place later this year at Lagan Valley Island, Lisburn on 12 September.
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Notes
to the editor:
Dr Brian Gaffney will be available for interview on Wednesday 28 June.
Promoting Healthy Prisons has been developed in conjunction with the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Probation Board for Northern Ireland, Opportunity Youth, Eastern Health and Social Services Board, Western Health and Social Services Board, South and East Belfast Health and Social Services Trust (HSST), Causeway HSST and Down and Lisburn HSST.
More information about the conference can be found at: http://www.healthpromotionagency.org.uk/work/Training/courses/prisons2006.htm
For
further information contact:
Jenny Dougan at the HPA on Tel: 028 9031 1611.
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