Prisons, Drugs and Mental Health: an interdisciplinary global study

We and others have researched colonial and post-colonial criminal justice systems and drugs cultures. However, there remain crucial gaps in knowledge about drugs/addiction in prisons and their relationship to mental health. This is important because evidence suggests that drug laws and enforcement disproportionately affect already marginalised populations, and drug users in prison have poorer health and socio-economic outcomes, but we do not yet fully understand their historical genesis or impacts. Our interdisciplinary programme will research the production, supply, use, and lived experience of drugs among prison communities, c.1800 to the present day. Our team will conduct case study research on former British slave colonies in Guyana, the Caribbean, and Indian Ocean – multi-ethnic societies presenting varied prisons and drugs cultures and mental health challenges. We will also establish and support an international network to research other British, European, and South/Latin American colonies and successor independent polities, extending our global reach through co-production of findings and outputs. Integrating the two components of our programme will produce historicised knowledge, insights, and concepts to address a significant scholarly gap and meet the urgent imperative to reduce long-term health challenges and inequalities associated with drugs and their burden on criminal justice systems globally.