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The Australian government has recently announced changes to its policy of mandatory detention for all unauthorised non-citizens. This paper provides a criminological analysis of that policy by providing an overview of the development of the immigration detention complex; the culture of containment that developed as a result of the policy; and the systemic criminalisation and abuse of detainees within the detention system. The article highlights the similarities between the prison and immigration detention systems and argues that immigration detention ought to be an ongoing focus for criminology.

It is perhaps surprising that, nearly eight years after the events of September 11, 2001, the United States has yet to craft a comprehensive, cohesive legal framework for dealing with the detention of suspected terrorists. Only in 2008, with the Supreme Court’s decision in Boumediene v. Bush, did detention decisions by the Executive branch become susceptible to judicial review as a constitutional matter. Still, the substantive content of detention law remains largely undefined. Though much scholarly ink has been spilled on the subject, there are no definitive answers yet. One things does seem likely, however: terrorist detention law will blend aspects of criminal, military, and even “administrative” models. This essay does not attempt a comprehensive proposal to the problem of terrorist detention. Instead, using analogies to Fourth Amendment seizure law, it sketches a useful “constitutional infrastructure” that should undergird and guide detention decisions in the war on terrorism. To that end, the broad outlines of seizure law are reviewed, revealing three pillars of this constitutional infrastructure: reasonableness, proportionality, and judicial review. These pillars are then examined in light of the challenge of terrorist detention, and some general suggestions are offered.

Bail is a most crucial stage of pre-trial procedure for accused persons who are presumed to be innocent. In the context of bail, punitive crime policies in New South Wales have led to the gradual erosion of the presumption in favour of bail in relation to many offences, the conflation of bail conditions and penalty and a steady increase in the number of persons being held as prisoners on remand. Continuing this punitive turn in crime policy, the Bail Act 1978 (NSW) was recently amended by the Bail Amendment Act 2007. It is the amendment in respect of s22A, and in particular the resultant changes to the configuration of bail, that is the subject of this article. It is our contention that s22A is ill thought out and without sufficient empirical foundation. In the absence of a rational base for this law-making, it can be characterised as a blatant 'get tough' on crime, law and order strategy that has become all too common.

Studies of juvenile justice generally give a good deal of attention to how much use is made of detention both at the pretrial or remand stage and also as a punishment or treatment option. This is not surprising given the financial, social and ethical costs of incarceration. Rather less attention is usually given to the nature and practice of detention, the conditions in which juveniles are held, the types of regimes, staffing and treatment philosophy. This chapter attempts to describe some of the trends not in the number of young people locked up but in the way they are treated behind bars. After discussing the framework of international law, the chapter looks at the different types of establishments and the kinds of experience they provide for young people before looking at a number of key issues.

When the system of ethnic monitoring was first adopted by the Prisons Department in England in 1985, it was revealed that those who were identified as black constituted 8 per cent of the prison population although they only made up approximately 1 per cent of the general population. Since that time the proportion of both male and female black prisoners has grown steadily, such that by 1995 11 per cent of the male prison population and 20 per cent of the female population were classified as black. Ethnic minority groups currently make up approximately 5.5 per cent of the total population in England and Wales but constitute some 17 per cent of the male prison population and 24 per cent of the female prison population. The racial disproportionality among those incarcerated is particularly pronounced amongst the remand population (Home Office, 1996b).

The adoption of the recommendations of the “Ouimet Report” into the Bail Reform Act, 1972 created a universally lauded codification of the law of bail in Canada enlivened by the presumption of innocence. Clearly release was to be the rule and custody the exception in the pre-trial context. In the last twenty years however, Parliament has broadened the discretion to restrict liberty by expanding the grounds for detention and has accelerated the proliferation of reverse onus offences. Neither policy has been empirically justified. Indeed, the downward trend in the commission of serious crimes runs counter to the current “tough on crime” legislative agenda. The exponential growth in remand custody compared to sentenced incarceration is disconcerting. The total disregard of an accused’s rights in the face of police mandated bail compliance units is contemptible. The presumption of innocence in the bail process has now become an illusory concept, at best.

The Mental Health Act 1983 introduced two new remand powers, one to enable accused persons to be remanded to hospital for reports on their mental condition, the other enabling remand for psychiatric treatment. This article reviews the use of these powers since the Act came into force and seeks to explain why they have not fulfilled the high expectations made of them. It also addresses the issue raised by the absence of a power to require acceptance of treatment by patients remanded for reports. The 1983 Act does not authorise compulsory treatment of accused persons who have been remanded to hospital for reports under section 35. The legal device which has been adopted to circumvent this problem has been to detain the person anew under civil powers which do authorise treatment without consent. There has been considerable debate since the passage of the Mental Health Act 1983 concerning the lawfulness of using this form of “double detention” to confer a power on the responsible medical officer (R.M...

The prison system in Poland is uniform and shaped by a legal act: the Executive Penal Code, Prison Service Act and published on their basis detailed executive acts. In the Polish prison system are two basic penitentiary facilities: Remand Prison; Prison. The penalty of imprisonment is executed in the following kinds of correctional institutions: Juvenile penitentiary (convicts, who are under 21 years of age); Prison for first-time offenders; Prison for the re-convicted (adults convicted for intended crime for imprisonment and punished for intended crimes, who had previously served such punishment); Prisons for offenders serving military custody. Every correctional institution can be organized as: closed; half-open; open. Closed prisons differ from other types, in particular, in the degree of protection, isolation of convicts and their resulting obligations and rights with regard to their free movement within the area of the prison and outside.

Aims: To describe the self-reported routes of administration of illicit drugs among subjects entering a remand prison and the different drugs used by this population. Methods: A cross-sectional study, with a sample of 770 subjects, was conducted in Geneva (Switzerland). Participants were assessed with the semi-structured interview from the Council of Europe Pompidou Group multi-city study. Results: 428 (55.6%) subjects admitted to having used illicit drugs during the 3 months prior to entry. Amongst these illicit drug users, 54.7% took several drugs. Injectable drugs (heroin, cocaine or illicit benzodiazepines) were taken by 75.7% of drug users but the majority (84.1%) declared that they had not injected drugs during the 3 months prior to entering prison. 68 subjects (8.8% of the total sample) declared that they had injected drugs during the 3 months prior to entering prison, either alone or in association with other methods. Conclusion: By extrapolation it is possible to suggest that about 200 intravenous drug users entered the remand prison in Geneva in 1 year. This confirms the need for prison health services to implement a policy of treatment, prevention and education adapted to patterns of drug use in the local context.

White and Afro-Caribbean patients admitted to a regional secure unit (RSU) were compared on a number of variables. The majority of all patients were previously known to local psychiatric services. Afro-Caribbeans were admitted in numbers greatly in excess of their representation in the local population, and were significantly more likely to be referred from the prison system whilst on remand. In contrast, white patients were more often admitted from National Health Service (NHS) and special hospitals. Significantly more Afro-Caribbeans than whites were socially isolated, had a previous criminal history and had a history of previous compulsory admission. They were also significantly more likely to be diagnosed as schizophrenic and to require transfer whilst on remand in custody for urgent psychiatric treatment. Also a larger number received restriction orders; however, this just failed to reach statistical significance. The possible reasons for these findings were discussed in terms of the over-re...

Seventy-eight adolescents admitted to Adelaide's youth remand centre provided social data and completed the Youth Self Report (YSR) checklist. Most came from chaotic social backgrounds and were without education or family support. Nearly 40% of remanded adolescents scored above the recommended cut-off scores of the YSR, a figure four times greater than that found among adolescents living in the community. This figure was comparable with that reported by adolescents attending child psychiatric services in Adelaide.

In 1986 the number of people in prisons per 100,000 of the population was much higher in England and Wales than Australia (93 compared to 70). This difference was not due to differences in crime rates nor the success of the police in apprehending offenders, but to the greater number of people (per capita) in England and Wales received into prison, both on remand and under sentence. Furthermore, in England and Wales, young adults were much more likely to be detained in custody--particularly those sentenced for non-sexual assault, burglary, and property damage.

Background: Each year more than 56 000 adult and young offenders are admitted to Ontario9s remand facilities (jails, detention centres and youth centres). The prevalence of HIV infection in Ontario remand facilities was last measured over a decade ago, and no research on the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been conducted in such facilities. We sought to determine the prevalence of HIV infection, HCV infection and HIV–HCV coinfection among inmates in Ontario9s remand facilities. Methods: A voluntary and anonymous cross-sectional prevalence study of HIV and HCV infections was conducted among people admitted to 13 selected remand facilities across Ontario between Feb. 1, 2003, and June 20, 2004. Data collection included a saliva specimen for HIV and HCV antibody screening and an interviewer-administered survey. Prevalence rates and 95% confidence intervals were calculated and examined according to demographic characteristics, region of incarceration and self-reported history of injection drug use. Results: In total, 1877 participants provided both a saliva specimen and survey information. Among the adult participants, the prevalence of HIV infection was 2.1% among men and 1.8% among women. Adult offenders most likely to have HIV infection were older offenders (≥ 30 years) and injection drug users. The prevalence of HCV infection was 15.9% among men, 30.2% among women and 54.7% among injection drug users. Adult offenders most likely to have HCV infection were women, older offenders (≥ 30 years) and injection drug users. The prevalence of HCV–HIV coinfection was 1.2% among men and 1.5% among women. It was highest among older inmates and injection drug users. Among the young offenders, none was HIV positive and 1 (0.4%) was HCV positive. On the basis of the study results, we estimated that 1079 HIV-positive adults and 9208 HCV-positive adults were admitted to remand facilities in Ontario from Apr. 1, 2003, to Mar. 31, 2004. Interpretation: Adult offenders entering Ontario remand facilities have a considerably higher prevalence of HIV and HCV infections than the general population.

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, the United States and Australian governments have asserted that the threat of terrorism requires the adoption of preventative detention strategies to authorize the arrest and detention of terrorists before they carry out their horrific acts. The two countries' approaches to preventative detention, however, have been distinct. In the United States, the Bush Administration has adopted pretextual measures that authorized the preventative, and potentially indefinite, detention of terrorist suspects as enemy combatants or as material witnesses. In Australia, Parliament placed preventative detention directly into its Criminal Code, authorizing the imposition of preventative detention and control orders in cases of terrorism. This Article examines and compares these unique preventative detention strategies employed by the U.S. and Australia in the war on terrorism, and analyzes their constitutionality in light of the U.S. Supreme Court and Australian High Court precedent addressing administrative detention. In the United States, the Supreme Court, armed with the Bills of Rights, has been more assertive than its Australian counterpart in striking down detention schemes which authorize indefinite regulatory detention without charges. Nevertheless, the preventative detention strategies employed by the United States are far more intrusive of individual liberties than the Australian legislative model. Yet, while the Australian measures incorporate more procedural protections and safeguards from abuse than their U.S. counterpart, and therefore are the more favored approach, neither scheme is consistent with the fundamental principles and values underlying both the U.S. and Australian systems of criminal justice and due process.

This retrospective case note study describes the demographic, offence and diagnostic characteristics of 115 referrals made to a psychiatric service within HMP Perth between May 2003 and April 2004. Twenty per cent of referrals were diagnosed with a major mental illness with remand prisoners having a higher overall prevalence. Nearly 70% had previous contact with psychiatric services, a similar percentage had previous substance misuse. Over 8% were transferred out of prison and over a quarter continued to be followed up at the end of the study period. A wide range of index offences was seen. Over two-thirds had a previous history of offending and nearly 60% had a previous custodial sentence, reflecting a high degree of recidivism. This study supports the high degree of psychiatric morbidity in the prison population shown in other studies. The role of a prison psychiatric service is discussed in the context of services to mentally disordered offenders.

Background Most studies measuring substance-use disorders in prisons focus on incoming or on remand prisoners and are generally restricted to drugs. However, there is evidence that substance use initiation or continuation occurs in prison, and that alcohol use is common. The aim of this study is 1) to assess prevalence of both drug and alcohol abuse and dependence (DAD/AAD) in a national randomised cohort of French prisoners, short or long-term sentence 2) to assess the risk factors associated with DAD/AAD in prison. a stratified random strategy was used to select 1) 23 prisons among the different types of prison 2) 998 prisoners. Diagnoses were assessed according to a standardized procedure, each prisoner being assessed by two psychiatrists, one junior, using a structured interview (MINI 5 plus), and one senior, completing the procedure with an open clinical interview. At the end of the interview the clinicians met and agreed on a list of diagnoses. Cloninger's Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) was also used. Results More than a third of prisoners presented either AAD or DAD in the last 12 months. Cannabis was the most frequent drug and just under a fifth of prisoners had AAD. AAD and DAD were clearly different for the following: socio-demographic variables, childhood history, imprisonment characteristics, psychiatric comorbidity and Cloninger's TCI. Profiles of AAD in prison are similar to type II alcoholism. Conclusion Regular screening of AAD/DAD in prison, and specific treatment programmes taking into account differences between prisoners with an AAD and prisoners with a DAD should be a public health priority in prison

Detainees have a substantial risk to develop tuberculosis (TB) due to a higher incidence of TB in remand prison compared to the civil community. They develop TB during incarceration not only due to poor living conditions in remand prison, but also due to some factors affecting their life before imprisonment. Prevention measures against TB spread from penitentiary institutions to society include study of factors, which contribute to TB development. Current study aims at identification of important risk factors of TB development in remand prison in St. Petersburg, Russia.A retrospective matched case-control study was performed from May 2002 to May 2003 in two remand prisons in St. Petersburg. One hundred and fourteen prisoners (57 cases, 57 controls) were interviewed by using standardised questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors.Six factors were significantly linked to the risk of developing TB: narcotic drug use (odds ratio (OR): 2.6, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.0-6.9), low income (OR: 3.2, CI: 1.2-8.6), high ratio of prisoners per available bed (OR: 4.0, CI: 1.1-15.0), not having own bed clothes (OR: 13.0, CI: 2.7-61.6), and little time outdoors (OR: 3.3, CI: 1.3-8.5). However, good housing before imprisonment (OR: 4.2, CI: 1.1-15.7) was a separate risk factor for TB.Three of the risk factors (high number of prisoners per bed, not having own bed clothes, and little time outdoors) are certainly possible to approach by improvement of conditions in remand prisons. The remaining three factors (narcotic drug use, good housing before imprisonment, and low income) provide knowledge about study population, but cannot be intervened by prison's medical staff.

Australian remand centres often contain more seriously mentally ill people than general hospital mental health inpatient units. However, it is unclear whether the apparent rise in prevalence of mental illness among prisoners reflects a genuine increase or an improvement in detection rates. Statistical modelling of the effect of deinstitutionalisation on the number of prisoners with mental health problems is fraught with methodological challenges and the absence of longitudinal data.5 This debate has tended to overshadow other major areas of concern about mental illness among prisoners.6 As Herrman et al pointed out 15 years ago, whatever the cause, services for people with mental illness in Australian prisons are inadequate and in need of urgent reform.

Background: People remanded into custody by the courts have a substantially higher rate of severe mental disorder than other prisoners and the general population. Knowledge of their prevalence, needs and characteristics and an analysis of pathways to care may be necessary to provide mental health care effectively and efficiently. Previous prison studies focusing on psychotic offenders have suffered from the use of instruments not validated in a forensic setting and lack of a relevant comparison group. Method: The Diagnostic Interview for Psychosis (DP) is a composite semi-structured standardized interview schedule. It combines social and demographic descriptors with measures of functioning adapted from the World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule (DAS). The remand centre surveyed had 466 cells and is the main remand and reception centre for males for the southern region of the state of Queensland, Australia. Of the 621 men screened, 65 answered yes to at least one question in the DP and were interviewed. Results: Six hundred and twenty-one remandees were screened and of these 61 were interviewed as screened positive for psychotic disorder. Thirty-five per cent had been homeless for an average of 32 weeks during the previous year. Most had had little contact with families or close friends. Eighty-one per cent were receiving no treatment at the time of offence. Seventy-eight per cent were unemployed and in receipt of a pension. Eighty per cent were dependent on alcohol, cannabis or amphetamines. Statistical issues of power are detailed in the text. Conclusions: The simplistic ‘prison, hospital or community treatment’ debate is misleading. Instead, the development of flexible preventative, management and accommodation services for people with severe mental disorder who have committed offences is a priority.

Summary of conclusions from a study of the effects of any remand strategy on remandees and the wider justice environment.

This paper argues that the nation's immigration laws are being misused to craft a system of preventive administrative detention of immigrant men, predominantly of Middle Eastern background. These detentions give rise to imprisonment without charge for weeks and months, denial of access to lawyers, physical and psychological abuse and ultimately deportations without a fair initial hearing or the exhaustion of available appellate recourse. I argue that this expanded use of civil immigration detention is designed to weaken constitutional due process protections, bringing into the U.S. detention tactics adopted abroad under the rubric of the war on terror. This paper also highlights similarities between the evolving administrative detention system in the United States and longer-standing practices in Israel.

Rates of HIV-1 infection are growing rapidly, and the epidemic of sexually transmitted infections is continuing at an alarming rate, in the Russian Federation. We did a cross-sectional study of sexually transmitted infections, HIV infection, and drug use in street youth at a juvenile detention facility, adults at homeless detention centres, and women and men at a remand centre in Moscow. 160 (79%) women at the remand centre were sex workers. 91 (51%) homeless women had syphilis. At least one bacterial sexually transmitted infection was present in 97 (58%) female juvenile detainees, 120 (64%) women at the remand centre, and 133 (75%) homeless women. HIV seroprevalence was high in women at the remand centre (n=7 [4%]), adolescent male detainees (5 [3%]), and homeless women (4 [2%]). In view of the interaction between sexually transmitted infections and HIV infection, these findings of high prevalence of sexually transmitted infections show that these disenfranchised populations have the potential to make a disproportionately high contribution to the explosive growth of the HIV epidemic unless interventions targeting these groups are implemented in the Russian Federation.

Sport is used widely in the rehabilitation of British young people who are resident in secure facilities following criminal sentencing, during remand or for welfare reasons. The research uses a quasi-longitudinal observational study in a secure unit, located in Southern England, and questions the suitability of sporting activities used as a primary vehicle for, and mechanism of, rehabilitation. Through the analysis of experiences at the unit, the paper supports the use of those sporting activities which de-emphasise regulations and winning, and argues for an emphasis on choice for participants, the tailoring of programmes to suit individual needs, and on positive feedback. Sport evidently has an important role in youth rehabilitation. However, it should be used selectively because, if unsuitable activities and programmes are used, they may have a detrimental effect on participants. The paper demonstrates the usefulness of qualitative research methods in rehabilitation studies.

A short review of the Ganser syndrome is given. The condition is a rare, probably dissociative, disorder with transient Vorbeireden as the central symptom. The case of a middle-aged man developing a transient Ganser syndrome after long-term solitary confinement in a remand prison is presented. Systematic investigation of 268 remand prisoners confirms the rarity of the syndrome, as only the case subject had this disorder.

The use of immigration law to detain foreign nationals has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, as the federal government has increasingly resorted to immigration law as an authority for preventive detention in settings where criminal law would not permit it. Most prominently, the Attorney General used immigration law to justify detaining the majority of those arrested in the mass preventive detention campaign he conducted and is conducting in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11. Congress has mandated detention of certain foreign nationals deportable for having committed criminal offenses, a practice currently under review by the Supreme Court. And the INS has used detention of Haitian asylum seekers for symbolic purposes. In this article, I argue that apart from the detention of enemy aliens during wartime, due process prohibits preventive detention in any setting - immigration or otherwise - absent an individualized showing that the person is either dangerous or a flight risk, and a legitimate government purpose other than detention itself. These due process limits apply across the board, to bail decisions in the criminal context, to civil commitment, and to immigration detention. Yet because immigration law in recent years has lost sight of these basic principles, taking due process seriously would have radical consequences for immigration detention as currently practiced. Part I lays out the general principles that apply to civil preventive detention, which establish that substantive due process is violated without an individualized showing after a fair adversarial hearing that there is something to prevent, namely danger to the community or flight. Part II applies this general framework to immigration detention. It first demonstrates, by a review of Supreme Court decisions, that the Court has applied the same due process principles to immigration detention that it has to other forms of civil detention; in other words, this is not a subject on which immigration exceptionalism, or the plenary power doctrine, has played much of a role. Second, I apply these general principles to several immigration law developments since 1996, illustrating that significant aspects of the INS's current detention policy and practice violate due process. Finally, I take up the issue of detention of entering aliens, and argue that cases holding that due process does not limit entering aliens' detention are predicated on an erroneous conflation of the decision to exclude and the decision to detain.

Of the 11,044 women who entered prison in the UK in 2009, about half were on remand, spending an average of four to six weeks in prison. Following trial, 61 per cent of women sentenced to custody received sentences of six months or less (Prison Reform Trust, 2010). In the same year, 3,000 women were sentenced to custody for three months or less, of whom 176 were sentenced to ten days or less. This suggests that a significant number of women are imprisoned for relatively minor offences. Many are mothers of dependent children.

This article describes three studies on several aspects of police custody in The Netherlands. The first study shows that the quality of accommodation, facilities, interaction and differential treatment are substandard in Dutch police stations, but dependent of the organisational size, degree of specialisation of the custodial task and extensiveness of duty-prescriptions and registration. Detention circumstances in police stations are worse than in remand centres. The second study reveals high prevalence rates of symptoms of depression and somatisation (SCL-90) among police custody detainees. Police custody detainees' symptom levels are higher than those in a jail population and a male general population. The third study addresses the prevalence rates of suicides and other deaths in Dutch police custody in the period 1983-1993 and shows that the mortality rate, suicide rate and deadly poisoning rate are higher than those in remand centres and the general population. The findings of the three studies demonstrate that police custody is an area of concern. © 2001, MCB UP Limited

The commonest forms of imprisonment are on remand and under sentence following a criminal conviction; of more limited significance are detention by the police and the detention of individuals who are, or are suspected of being, illegal aliens. To be distinguished from these is detention in camps, particularly in concentration camps and as prisoners of war.

BackgroundMore treatment for substance misuse should be provided within prisons.AimsTo examine differences between prisoners on remand with substance misuse problems and other prisoners on remand.MethodRandom selection and interview of unconvicted male prisoners (n=750, a 9.4% sample), plus examination of the prison medical record.ResultsOf the sample of 750, 253 subjects (33.7%) reported either drug- or alcohol-related health problems or dependency. Compared with other prisoners on remand, they reported more childhood adversity, conduct disorder, self-harm, past psychiatric treatment and current mood disorder, and had fewer qualifications, were more likely to be unemployed and have more housing difficulties.ConclusionsOne-third of unconvicted men in prison report substance-related problems, and these are a marker for vulnerability within a disadvantaged population. Health care providers should involve this group in treatment and rehabilitation, both inside prison and following release.

On any day worldwide about 10 million people are incarcerated, in prisons, remand centres, police stations, jails, detention centres for asylum seekers, penal colonies, and prisoner of war camps. There is an increasing recognition that the high risk of tuberculosis in these settings poses a problem for those imprisoned and for the wider society. The issue now is what to do about what was until very recently “a forgotten plague.”1 The important general measures for tuberculosis control in prisons are improvement of prison conditions, particularly a reduction in overcrowding, improvement of nutrition and hygiene, and guaranteed access to improved prison health services. Knowledge of the epidemiology of tuberculosis in prisons, appreciation of what makes control different from control in other settings, and understanding of the principles of tuberculosis control are all necessary for governmental and other agencies to contribute to the implementation of effective tuberculosis control programmes in prisons. We have focused here on countries with a high prevalence of tuberculosis, where the problem is most severe and the need for action most pressing, and on the specific measures necessary in the implementation of an effective prison tuberculosis programme. #### Summary points People incarcerated are at high risk for tuberculosis and case rates are among the highest ever recorded in any population The specific features of prisons and of prisoners necessitate specific approaches to tuberculosis control that are different from those used in the general population Guarantees are needed to ensure completion of treatment; and this requires political and administrative commitment Prisons can also provide an opportunity for effective tuberculosis control, which may well lead to improved prison health care The article is based on information from ongoing clinical work, follow up of ongoing prison programmes, and reports from prisons, supplemented by literature searches. Prisons are closed institutions for prisoners during their …

Most countries of the industrialised world have seen an unprecedented rise in their prison populations over the last decade or so. Indeed, many countries currently have the highest prison populations they have ever had, resulting in huge economic and human costs. In many countries the rising number of accused persons being remanded in custody has been a significant driver of the rising prison population. This special issue of Current Issues in Criminal Justice focuses primarily on the bail process in three common law countries, Australia, Canada and England and Wales. The individuals dealt with throughout the bail process are, in the main, legally innocent. Under international human rights law they should not be detained without good cause and only in limited circumstances. As Lord Hailsham said of the refusal of bail in England and Wales, it is 'the only example, in peacetime, where a man [sic] can be kept in confinement without a proper sentence following conviction after a proper trial' (quoted in Cavadino & Gibson 1993:69). Despite its centrality to assessments of freedom, fairness and democracy and its role as one of the main drivers of rising prison populations, bail decision-making is the 'Cinderella' of criminal justice, receiving very little political or academic attention. There is a paucity of published statistics and research on bail processes and remand populations in each of the three jurisdictions under scrutiny here, leaving large gaps in our knowledge of how and why systems operate in the way that they do, and how and why the drivers of prison remand populations affect corrections policy and practice generally.

During the course of imprisonment, whether on remand or when serving a sentence, people sometimes need to be transferred to a psychiatric hospital. In Ireland the only psychiatric hospital a person can be transferred to is the Central Mental Hospital (CMH).We describe 627 prison transfers to the CMH between 1983 and 1988. The number each year varied from 99 in 1983 to 127 in 1988. The percentage on remand varied from 49% in 1984 to 31% in 1987 and 1986. The average age of sentenced prisoners was 28 years and 35 years in the case of those on remand. The diagnostic categories were as follows: Schizophrenia (31%), Reactive Depression (23%), Personality Disorder (25%), Mania (5%), Drug and Alcohol (8%) and Mental Handicap (4%). The longest average stay in the hospital was seven weeks for Mania and the shortest was three weeks for Reactive Depression. The largest proportion on remand was for Mania (79%) followed by Schizophrenia (58%). We make recommendations about legislation and the role of the catchment area psychiatric hospital.

Overview This study investigated the general and oral health status and behaviours and the dental treatment requirements of remand prisoners. It makes recommendations on how their oral health care needs may be met. Method A convenience sample of 78 remand prisoners participated in the study within HMP Brixton. The study involved a structured interview, to establish health status and behaviours as well as perceived oral health needs, combined with an oral examination to establish normative treatment need. Results Prisoners' general health was compromised. In particular, there were high levels of mental illness and infectious disease. Unhealthy behaviours such as tobacco smoking, alcohol use, drug dependency, and high sugar diets were commonplace. This affected the remand prisoners' oral health, which presented with high levels of decay and relatively low levels of both missing and filled teeth. Whilst prisoners made high use of prison dental services, they made little use of dental services outside of prison. The high turnover of remand prisoners and high demand for emergency care made the delivery of preventive and routine care difficult. Conclusion Remand prisoners have compromised general and oral health compared with the general population. They exhibit poor oral health, which is contributed to by their lifestyles and health behaviours.

A needs assessment protocol which examines 11 problem areas was devised. This was administered to 277 prisoners on remand at Brixton Prison. We found high levels of unmet need for housing, treatment of substance abuse and neurotic symptoms. Twenty-nine per cent were transferred to hospital under the provisions of the Mental Health Act and about a third of those at liberty to do so complied with a discharge plan. Diversion and discharge planning can potentially meet the unmet needs of remand prisoners.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of drug and alcohol use among newly remanded prisoners, assess the effectiveness of prison reception screening, and examine the clinical management of substance misusers among remand prisoners. Design: A consecutive case study of remand prisoners screened at reception for substance misuse and treatment needs and comparison of findings with those of prison reception screening and treatment provision. Setting: A large adult male remand prison (Durham). Subjects: 548 men aged 21 and over awaiting trial. Main outcome measures: Prevalence of substance misuse; treatment needs of substance misusers; effectiveness of prison reception screening for substance misuse; provision of detoxification programmes. Results: Before remand 312 (57%) men were using illicit drugs and 181 (33%) met DSM-IV drug misuse or dependence criteria; 177 (32%) men met misuse or dependence criteria for alcohol. 391 (71%) men were judged to require help directed at their drug or alcohol use and 197 (36%) were judged to require a detoxification programme. The prison reception screen identified recent illicit drug use in 131 (24%) of 536 men and problem drinking in 103 (19%). Drug use was more likely to be identified by prison screening if an inmate was using multiple substances, using opiates, or had a diagnosis of abuse or dependence. 47 (9%) of 536 inmates were prescribed treatment to ease the symptoms of substance withdrawal. Conclusions: The prevalence of substance misuse in newly remanded prisoners is high. Prison reception health screening consistently underestimates drug and alcohol use. In many cases in which substance use is identified the quantities and numbers of different substances being used are underestimated. Initial management of inmates identified by prison screening as having problems with dependence producing substances is poor. Few receive a detoxification programme, so that many are left with the option of continuing to use drugs in prison or facing untreated withdrawal. Key messages In screening for substance use in remand prisoners a positive finding must be considered the norm rather than the exception Present prison reception procedures fail to identify the extent to which substances are used and misused by people newly remanded to prison Provision of detoxification programmes for prisoners identified by reception screening as having serious drug and alcohol related problems is inadequate Prisoners who need help but think that asking for this is more likely to result in punishment than treatment are not likely be truthful about their substance use More consideration needs to be given to reducing substance misuse in prisons by improving assessment at reception and providing better treatment for misusers rather than using random urine screening to detect and punish offenders

Government policy has encouraged speedy transfer of mentally ill prisoners to NHS care,1 2 but arrangements have often proved slow and ineffective.3 4 The Bentham Unit was set up in February 1994 to provide rapid assessment and (where appropriate) transfer for male mentally disordered remand prisoners in the former North West Thames Regional Health Authority. The unit provides regular outreach assessment sessions at Wormwood Scrubs and other prisons and is based in a 14 bed locked ward to which patients may be admitted before court disposal and determination of final placement. We retrospectively identified all prisoners referred for NHS psychiatric assessment who had been remanded to prisons within the area covered by North West Thames Regional Health Authority (Wormwood Scrubs, Brixton, Pentonville, Wandsworth, and Feltham) between 1 April and 31 August 1994 and determined those who were assessed and admitted …

Data obtained from the records of the Greek Ministry of Justice revealed that there were 457 deaths in the Greek prison system (which includes prisons, mental hospitals and other general hospitals) over the past 20 years. Of these deaths, 93 were recorded as suicides — an average of 4.65 suicides per year or 112 per 100,000 inmates classified as convicted, on remand or hospitalized. The suicide rates fluctuated widely, from a low rate of 32.3 in 1982 to the incredibly high rate of 390.8 in 1979 (11 total suicides, 10 of which occurred in prison hospitals). The present study, the first of its kind in Greece, was based solely on unpublished prison data, which revealed defects in recording (e. g., 11% of the deaths recorded by the correctional administration remained without specification of cause in the years 1977 through 1996; social and penal demographic data of the inmates who committed suicide were kept unsystematically; detailed information on the circumstances of suicide was not always available, etc.). Despite a noticeable decrease in the suicide rate in the years 1995 and 1996, the limited data suggest that the suicide rate in the Greek prison system has basically remained stable over the past 20 years.

The tuberculosis (TB) situation in the Russian penitentiary system has received much attention. We performed a descriptive epidemiological study of TB in two St Petersburg remand prisons (SIZOs). The medical databases of the TB divisions in these prisons were searched for all diagnosed cases of TB from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2002. The main diagnostic method was chest x ray. The total number of reported TB cases in these two remand prisons during this three-year period was 876. Out of these, 432 were diagnosed at entry to prison, and 444 developed the disease during incarceration, with the proportion diagnosed during incarceration increasing over time. The majority of cases were aged under 30 years. TB incidence in Russian remand prisons is still very high and needs to be monitored closely.

In their paper, Kosky & Hoyle[1][1] use a postal questionnaire to consider the provision of secondary mental healthcare in prisons. They conclude that ‘there is generally no correlation between input and prison capacity, although there was some evidence of correlation in the high secure... estate

All referrals to medical officers in Brixton Prison over a five-month period in 1989 were examined. This paper reports the progress through this remand prison of those men who were considered to be suffering from a major psychiatric disorder. Many men had been charged with relatively minor offences. The net effect of medical intervention was to delay release from custody. Because of the administrative delays inherent in the system of medical referral and hospital admission under section 37 of the Mental Health Act 1983, it was those prisoners who were most ill who tended to remain in prison for the longest periods. Judged in terms of its efficiency to ensure speedy treatment for mentally ill remanded offenders, the present system is regarded as cumbersome and extremely inefficient. It is suggested that greater use should be made of section 48 of the 1983 Act to divert mentally ill, remanded offenders from prison.