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The conclusions from the meeting held jointly with WHO, EMCDDA and PHE in December 2017 in Lisbon have been published on the WHO HIPP web platform stating that:
“This meeting recognizes the need for consideration of the following measures, programmes and guidelines aimed to reduce drug use and its associated harms in prison and invites policy-makers, health and justice professionals, and prison administrators to:
1) Implement a “whole-of-government approach” to prison health care, ensuring that the health and social care needs of people in prisons are considered in all policies, taking account of the need for integration between prison health and wider public health and social care systems, and recognizing prisons as a setting in which to address health inequalities, improve health and thereby reduce reoffending;
2) Operate within a framework of equivalence of health care outcomes between prison and community based on need and the requirement for continuity of care between community and prison;
3) Treat the person as a whole, including psychosocial support as well as effective pharmacological treatment, recognizing that drug treatment should take account of wider health and social care issues;
4) Ensure that service design is informed by research evidence and that service delivery is evaluated by audit and/or appropriate implementation data that take into account the prison setting and the transition into the community from custody, requiring multiagency partnership work and a systems leadership approach to health;
5) Develop and agree minimum staffing levels (both health care and custodial staff) and skill mix; ensure appropriate training and professional development for all staff to assure improvements in service delivery, acknowledging the challenges of working in a prison setting and the opportunities for all staff to impact on rehabilitation and reducing recidivism;
6) Encourage use of the United Nations comprehensive package of services to address HIV, TB, and viral hepatitis B and C; and undertake prison reform measures to improve living and working conditions, and broader criminal justice reforms to develop, adopt and implement alternatives to conviction or punishment and to reduce the excessive use of pre-trial detention.”