Barriers to health and other services for ex-prisoners

The National Survey of Drug Abuse Development reported that the police had caught 1 of 5 drug users in Indonesia.

One of the strongest lessons from the end of the last century is that public health can no longer afford to ignore the prisoner health. The rise and rapid spread of HIV infection and AIDS, the resurgence of other serious communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and hepatitis and the increasing recognition that prisons are inappropriate receptacles for people with dependence and mental health problems have thrust prison health high on the public health agenda.

Drug dependence among inmates is at epidemic proportions. Almost two thirds (64.5 percent) of the inmate population in the U.S. (1.5 million) met medical criteria for an alcohol or other drug dependence.

This is an advocacy tool, as an important part of the strategy in implementing harm reduction networking activities in order to raise the issue of drug use especially former prisoners.

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