1st Edition

Prison Health and Wellbeing

Edited By James Woodall, Matthew Maycock, Rosie Meek Copyright 2026
240 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

240 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

240 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

Prison Health and Wellbeing blends theory with lived experience to explore the complex challenges and interventions that shape health and wellbeing for those living in, working in, and visiting prisons. People in prison are far from a homogenous group, yet epidemiological evidence consistently shows higher rates of ill-health compared to the wider population. Historically, research has focused... Read more

Introduction
James Woodall, Matthew Maycock and Rosie Meek

Part 1: Structures, systems and access

1.     What are the major factors that influence the quality of primary care in English prisons?: Headline ideas from a mixed-methods study
Laura Sheard and Krysia Canvin

2.     Understanding and evaluating social care provision in prisons in England and Wales
Holly Walton, Chris Sherlaw-Johnson, Efthalia Massou, Pei Li Ng, Lucy Wainwright, Donna Gipson, Stephen Riley and Naomi J Fulop

3.     Outside prison walls: A study of external healthcare access among persons detained in Geneva
Leonel da Cunha Gonçalves, Laurent Gétaz, Patrick Heller, Diane Golay, Déborah da Costa, Stéphanie Baggio and Hans Wolff

4.     Women in high-security in Norway: Prison health in a Nordic Welfare State
Ingrid Lundeberg and Peter Scharff Smith

Part 2: Specific Health Needs and Populations

5.     The complex interface between cognitive disability and mental health in Australian women’s prisons
Julie-Anne Toohey

6.     How correctional work affects the self and personal and family relationships
Tina Armstrong, Rosemary Ricciardelli and Matthew S. Johnston

7.     Queering trauma-informed care and practice in prison healthcare
Dwayne Antojado

8.     Delivering justice: The role of midwives in caring for pregnant women in prison
Laura Abbott, Melanie Ballard, Nicola Barker, Louise Birtwell, Kim Walsh, Sophie Didsbury, Deana Emerson and Penny Longley

9.     Bereavement in the prison setting: Disenfranchised grief in the disenfranchised
Nina Vaswani

10.  The prison toilet: Pee, poo, periods and power
Amy Smoyer

Part 3: Rehabilitation and wellbeing

11.  Managing the pain of imprisonment: A peer support approach
Ed Schreeche-Powell

12.  Ageing well in prisons
Michelle Baybutt, Kathryn Waldegrave, and Helen Codd

13.  Developing 'soft skills', encouraging self-reflection and alleviating the pains of imprisonment: Examining the effects of an academically accredited sport-based intervention on politically affiliated prisoners’ well-being
Conor Murray, Brendan Coyle, Brontë Fitch and Gavin Breslin

Biography

James Woodall is a Professor in Health Promotion at Leeds Beckett University.

Matthew Maycock, PhD, is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology at Monash University and was previously Baxter Fellow in the School of Education and Social Work, University of Dundee and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Gender Studies, Karlstad University.

Rosie Meek is a Professor of Criminological Psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London.