Abstract
This presentation explores the contested meaning of “prison public health”. European Public Health aligns itself with legal, ethical, political and economic principles that govern human rights, the rule of law and social justice. The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health infer an egalitarian approach towards social justice that supports rights of all citizens to have their basic needs met, unnecessary threats to wellbeing minimised, and social competence maximised. In the spirit of the WHO Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, this means operationalising agency of individuals and communities and of the broad structural determinants of health: economic, political, legal and institutional.
In contrast, the law conventionally positions criminal responsibility with the individual perpetrator who is held responsible for their ‘offending’ behaviour. In parallel, arguments surrounding responsibility for health have abounded for many decades, with the principle of collective responsibility for health forming the ethos of the Ottawa Charter. Only recently has it been acknowledged that criminogenic and pathogenic ‘determinants’ intersect, criminal risk behaviours and health risk behaviours sharing common aetiologies.
This presentation will reinforce that a public health approach towards imprisonment is fundamentally egalitarian and commitment to social justice, recognising that structure and agency intersect and that the health of the prison is as important as that of the prisoner. It will argue that it is short-sighted to attend only to prisoner behaviour if the system surrounding the prisoner is failing in its duty of care and capacity to serve society.
Most prison populations represent the most vulnerable or disadvantaged sectors of society. Governments must proactively facilitate sustainable human development and protection and empowerment of vulnerable groups including those in custody.
Cultural Structure and Sexual Violence against Iranian Women (Survey of preventive strategies based on the public health approach)