Injecting risk behaviour among recently released prisoners in Edinburgh: The impact of in-prison and community drug treatment services

Purpose. Research in the area of injecting risk behaviour among drug users in prison is increasing; this paper attempts to rectify the paucity of research on risk behaviour of prisoners after release. This study also assesses the impact of both in‐prison and community drug services on injecting risk behaviour after release. Methods. This longitudinal study looked at the risk behaviour of a cohort of ex‐prisoners in Edinburgh, Scotland. Two follow‐up interviews were carried out after release from prison, involving 56 and 40 participants respectively. This study built on an in‐prison evaluation of a drug reduction programme, and sufficient numbers were recruited to compare an intervention and a control group. Results. There was some evidence of an initial flurry of injecting risk behaviour among participants soon after release, with a minority reporting injecting after release from prison, but over time patterns of injecting were variable. There was a low incidence of sharing injecting equipment. Generally, and perhaps contrary to expectation, post‐release risk behaviour among the present sample was relatively low. Neither community‐based nor in‐prison drug treatment programmes were found to have a major effect on patterns of drug use. Conclusions. Caution should be observed when generalizing from the data obtained in this study. That said, focusing specifically on the period after release as a situational factor in increased injecting risk among drug users has indicated that more enduring local factors may be just as influential on levels of risk behaviour. Contact with neither in‐prison nor community drug services was predictive of lower risk behaviour.