The association between health and prison overcrowding, a scoping review
Abstract It is estimated that the majority of prisons globally are overcrowded. There is consensus that overcrowding leads to negative health outcomes, however quantitative research of this association appears limited. This scoping review aimed to identify literature examining the association betwee...
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BMC
2025-07-01
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| Series: | BMC Public Health |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-23340-9 |
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| author | Maha Aon Simon Oberconz Marie Brasholt |
| author_facet | Maha Aon Simon Oberconz Marie Brasholt |
| author_sort | Maha Aon |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract It is estimated that the majority of prisons globally are overcrowded. There is consensus that overcrowding leads to negative health outcomes, however quantitative research of this association appears limited. This scoping review aimed to identify literature examining the association between prison overcrowding and health outcomes, and to summarize these associations. Two databases and a grey literature site were searched for quantitative studies where overcrowding was an independent variable, and the outcome was any physical or mental health issue. This yielded 34 records from 16 mostly high-income countries in addition to three multi-country studies. Studies applied a range of definitions of overcrowding with the most common being occupancy rates. Studies mostly concluded that overcrowding had a positive association on the outcome under study, i.e., as overcrowding increased so did the prevalence of the disease under study. When methodological limitations were taken into consideration, we found that in eighteen articles prison overcrowding was independently and positively associated with tuberculosis, COVID-19, self-harm, depression, overall prison mortality, and injuries due to violence respectively. Prison overcrowding was not found to be independently associated with suicide in four of the five studies where it featured. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c84b83371a634752ac771e25df3cd79a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1471-2458 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Public Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-c84b83371a634752ac771e25df3cd79a2025-08-20T03:45:41ZengBMCBMC Public Health1471-24582025-07-0125111310.1186/s12889-025-23340-9The association between health and prison overcrowding, a scoping reviewMaha Aon0Simon Oberconz1Marie Brasholt2Prevention and Accountability Department, DIGNITY - Danish Institute against TorturePrevention and Accountability Department, DIGNITY - Danish Institute against TorturePrevention and Accountability Department, DIGNITY - Danish Institute against TortureAbstract It is estimated that the majority of prisons globally are overcrowded. There is consensus that overcrowding leads to negative health outcomes, however quantitative research of this association appears limited. This scoping review aimed to identify literature examining the association between prison overcrowding and health outcomes, and to summarize these associations. Two databases and a grey literature site were searched for quantitative studies where overcrowding was an independent variable, and the outcome was any physical or mental health issue. This yielded 34 records from 16 mostly high-income countries in addition to three multi-country studies. Studies applied a range of definitions of overcrowding with the most common being occupancy rates. Studies mostly concluded that overcrowding had a positive association on the outcome under study, i.e., as overcrowding increased so did the prevalence of the disease under study. When methodological limitations were taken into consideration, we found that in eighteen articles prison overcrowding was independently and positively associated with tuberculosis, COVID-19, self-harm, depression, overall prison mortality, and injuries due to violence respectively. Prison overcrowding was not found to be independently associated with suicide in four of the five studies where it featured.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-23340-9PrisonsCrowdingScoping reviewTuberculosisCOVID-19Self-harm |
| spellingShingle | Maha Aon Simon Oberconz Marie Brasholt The association between health and prison overcrowding, a scoping review BMC Public Health Prisons Crowding Scoping review Tuberculosis COVID-19 Self-harm |
| title | The association between health and prison overcrowding, a scoping review |
| title_full | The association between health and prison overcrowding, a scoping review |
| title_fullStr | The association between health and prison overcrowding, a scoping review |
| title_full_unstemmed | The association between health and prison overcrowding, a scoping review |
| title_short | The association between health and prison overcrowding, a scoping review |
| title_sort | association between health and prison overcrowding a scoping review |
| topic | Prisons Crowding Scoping review Tuberculosis COVID-19 Self-harm |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-23340-9 |
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