Prisons and health

This report outlines important suggestions by international experts to improve the health of people in prison and to reduce the risks posed by imprisonment to both health and society. In particular, it aims to facilitate better prison health practices in the fields of:

• human rights and medical ethics;
• communicable diseases;
• noncommunicable diseases;
• oral health;
• risk factors;
• vulnerable groups; and
• prison health management.

It is aimed at professional staff at all levels of responsibility for the health and well-being of detainees and at people with political responsibility. The term “prison” covers all institutions in which a state holds people deprived of their liberty.

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