RSSeNEWS to be determined...

Former RSS vice president Sheila Bird has called for reforms in the recording and monitoring of deaths of recently-released prisoners in England.

Bird says the changes are needed for compliance with World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations, which include adoption of a standardised monitoring protocol to determine baseline mortality rates in the post-release period.

In an article published on Straight Statistics Preventing the deaths of prisoners immediately after release she points out that "in the first 12 weeks post-release, 60 per cent of ex-prisoner deaths were drug-related."

Yet presently, "not even the fact/date of deaths which are subject to coroner’s inquiry need be registered until completion of the coroner’s inquiry which can take many months".

By contrast, Scotland has "both timely registration of the fact/date of death and look-back at every drug-related death to establish the deceased’s recent prison history," Bird comments.

Professor Bird concludes that "England needs first to sort out its registration of deaths and then either flag for mortality within 12 weeks of release all ex-prisoners or, like Scotland, conduct look-back into the prison antecedents of all drug-related deaths as a matter of public health routine (not as research)."