ArticlePloS one2022
Association between contact with mental health and substance use services and reincarceration after release from prison.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Change process in psychotherapy for criminal offenders: a comprehensive review with content analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Providing Mental Health and Substance Use Services to People Released From Custody During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study of Service Providers.The International journal of health planning and management · 2026Article
- Unveiling Intersecting Experiences: Investigating Health Care and Jail System Interaction Before and After Incarceration Among Adults with Serious Mental Illness in San Francisco.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2026Article
- Article
- Post-release behavioral healthcare utilization and suicide risk among formerly incarcerated individuals.Health affairs scholar · 2025Article
- Health and incarceration research in Australia: a scoping review.The Lancet regional health. Western Pacific · 2025Review
- Access to services for mental ill-health and substance use among people released from prison in Scotland (RELEASE): Retrospective observational cohort study protocol.International journal of population data science · 2025Article
- Recent evidence on rates and factors influencing smoking behaviours after release from smoke-free prisons: a scoping review.International journal of prison health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivePeople released from prison who experience mental health and substance use problems are at high risk of reincarceration. This study aimed to examine the association between contact with mental health and substance use treatment services, and reincarceration, among adults released from prison.
methodsPre-release survey data from 1,115 adults released from prisons in Queensland, Australia were linked with administrative health and correctional records covering a median of 787 days post-release. We constructed marginal structural Cox proportional hazards models, adjusting for pre-release variables and time-varying indicators of emergent mental health and substance use problems, to examine the association between contact with mental health and substance use treatment services, and reincarceration.
resultsThe adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) for reincarceration associated with mental health service contact was 1.76 (95%CI 1.23,2.51). Among those not on parole following release, the AHR for reincarceration associated with substance use treatment service contact was 3.16 (95%CI 2.09,4.77); we found no evidence for an association among those who were released on parole (AHR = 1.07; 95%CI 0.80,1.43).
conclusionsAlthough we cannot eliminate the possibility of residual confounding, our findings suggest that infrequent or unsustained contact with community-based mental health and substance use treatment services is not protective against reincarceration, and may even be iatrogenic. Increased investment in high-quality and timely behavioural health services for people released from prison may simultaneously improve health outcomes, and reduce reincarceration.
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