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. 2022 Dec 1:5:100127.
doi: 10.1016/j.dadr.2022.100127. eCollection 2022 Dec.

Drug use and re-imprisonment: A prospective study of the Norwegian Offender Mental Health and Addiction (NorMA) cohort

Nicoline Toresen Lokdam  1   2 , Marianne Riksheim Stavseth  1   2 , Anne Bukten  2   1
Affiliations

Drug use and re-imprisonment: A prospective study of the Norwegian Offender Mental Health and Addiction (NorMA) cohort

Nicoline Toresen Lokdam et al. Drug Alcohol Depend Rep. .

Abstract

Background: Re-imprisonments are common among people in prison who use drugs. This study aims to describe sociodemographic factors, mental health and level of pre-prison substance use in a cohort of people in prison, and to investigate re-imprisonment during follow-up according to their level of pre-prison drug use.

Methods: This was a prospective study using baseline data from the Norwegian Offender Mental Health and Addiction (NorMA) cohort (n = 733) recruited in 2013-2014 linked to data from the Norwegian Prison Registry and the Norwegian Cause of Death Registry. Self-reported drug use before imprisonment was measured at baseline using the Drug Use Disorder Identification Test (DUDIT). The outcome of interest was re-imprisonment examined using Cox regression. We excluded 32 persons because they were not released before the study ended. The study sample included 701 persons, with a total time-at-risk of 2479 person-years.

Results: Almost half of the study sample reported high-risk drug use before imprisonment (DUDIT score >24). During the study period, 43% (n = 267) were re-imprisoned. People with high-risk use had a hazard ratio (HR) of 4.20 (95% CI: 2.95-5.97) of re-imprisonment compared with people with low-risk use (DUDIT score <6). Older age and more education than primary school were associated with a reduced risk of re-imprisonment.

Conclusion: Compared with low-risk use, high-risk drug use is highly prevalent among people in prison and is associated with higher rates of re-imprisonment. This highlights the need for screening and treatment of drug use disorders among people in prisons.

Keywords: DUDIT; Drug use; NorMA cohort; Prison; Re-imprisonment.

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Conflict of interest statement

No conflict declared.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart.
Fig 2
Fig. 2
Kaplan-Meier curves of days to re-imprisoned, by low-risk, harmful or high-risk drug use. 95% confidence intervals (CI), n = 621. Total time at risk= 803 878 days.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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