Ten-year longitudinal study of incarceration among a community-based cohort of people who inject drugs.
9 affiliations
- 1Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia. [email protected].
- 2National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Melbourne, Australia. [email protected].
- 3Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia.
- 4National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, Melbourne, Australia.
- 5Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.
- 6Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
- 7Department of Public Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.
- 8Kirby Institute for Infection and Immunity, Faculty of Medicine, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia.
- 9School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Abstract
Background
People who inject drugs are over-represented among incarcerated populations. However, there are few studies elucidating patterns of incarceration among people who inject drugs, especially among community-based cohorts. Furthermore, data on drug use and injecting risk behaviours in carceral settings are limited globally. We aimed to describe lifetime patterns of incarceration, as well as drug use and injecting risk behaviours while incarcerated, among a cohort of people who inject drugs in Melbourne, Australia (SuperMIX), stratified by key demographics. Baseline and annual follow-up interviews conducted between 2008 and 2021 collected data on demographics, drug use, health service use and criminal justice system interactions from 1328 participants. We report a descriptive account of lifetime incarceration and incarceration episode characteristics (including duration and drug use). We also compared the health and social characteristics of people who inject drugs by self-reported incarceration history.Results
We found a high prevalence of incarceration, with 67% reporting a lifetime incarceration. Prevalence of recent incarceration remained above 20% across the 10-year follow-up. Participants with a history of incarceration showed higher rates of marginalisation and over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Nearly one-fifth of incarceration episodes involved injecting drug use, with a majority (75%) of these episodes involving syringe sharing while incarcerated.Conclusions
Results show minimal progress in reducing incarceration rates among people who inject drugs, especially Aboriginal people. Our findings point to the urgent need for evidence-based harm reduction programs in carceral settings, as well as broader policy reform to reduce the over-incarceration of people who use drugs.
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BibTeX
@article{chan2026tenyear,
title = {{Ten-year longitudinal study of incarceration among a community-based cohort of people who inject drugs.}},
author = {Jocelyn Chan and Michael Curtis and Nico Clark and Matthew Hickman and Peter Higgs and Jocelyn Jones and Michael Livingston and Lisa Maher and Brendan Quinn and Ashleigh C Stewart and Jack Stone and James Trauer and Mark Stoové and Paul Dietze},
journal = {Health \& justice},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.1186/s40352-026-00440-1},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42900302},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Ten-year longitudinal study of incarceration among a community-based cohort of people who inject drugs.
AU - Jocelyn Chan
AU - Michael Curtis
AU - Nico Clark
AU - Matthew Hickman
AU - Peter Higgs
AU - Jocelyn Jones
AU - Michael Livingston
AU - Lisa Maher
AU - Brendan Quinn
AU - Ashleigh C Stewart
AU - Jack Stone
AU - James Trauer
AU - Mark Stoové
AU - Paul Dietze
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/01
JO - Health & justice
DO - 10.1186/s40352-026-00440-1
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42900302
AB - Background People who inject drugs are over-represented among incarcerated populations. However, there are few studies elucidating patterns of incarceration among people who inject drugs, especially among community-based cohorts. Furthermore, data on drug use and injecting risk behaviours in carceral settings are limited globally. We aimed to describe lifetime patterns of incarceration, as well as drug use and injecting risk behaviours while incarcerated, among a cohort of people who inject drugs in Melbourne, Australia (SuperMIX), stratified by key demographics. Baseline and annual follow-up interviews conducted between 2008 and 2021 collected data on demographics, drug use, health service use and criminal justice system interactions from 1328 participants. We report a descriptive account of lifetime incarceration and incarceration episode characteristics (including duration and drug use). We also compared the health and social characteristics of people who inject drugs by self-reported incarceration history.Results We found a high prevalence of incarceration, with 67% reporting a lifetime incarceration. Prevalence of recent incarceration remained above 20% across the 10-year follow-up. Participants with a history of incarceration showed higher rates of marginalisation and over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Nearly one-fifth of incarceration episodes involved injecting drug use, with a majority (75%) of these episodes involving syringe sharing while incarcerated.Conclusions Results show minimal progress in reducing incarceration rates among people who inject drugs, especially Aboriginal people. Our findings point to the urgent need for evidence-based harm reduction programs in carceral settings, as well as broader policy reform to reduce the over-incarceration of people who use drugs.
SN - 2194-7899
ER -