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Public health in prisons and secure settings

Resources to help health professionals treat and prevent infections and improve health and wellbeing in prisons and secure settings.

Updates to this page

From:
UK Health Security Agency
Published:
27 May 2014
Last updated:
30 July 2025
Show all updates

  1. Added link to 'Tuberculosis awareness posters for prisons'.

  2. Added 'Mpox: prisons and places of detention' under 'Infection control in prisons and secure settings' heading. Removed the heading ‘Alcohol and drug treatment in prisons and secure settings’ as this guidance sits with OHID.

  3. Added link to 'Scabies: management advice for health professionals'.

  4. Added 'Management of incidents and outbreaks of communicable disease in secure settings' document.

  5. Retagged to UKHSA and re-created the "List of reportable diseases to be notified to PHE Health Protection Teams by prison and other detention centre healthcare teams" PDF as an HTML document. Added 3 new documents to "infection control in prisons and secure settings" collection. These appear at the bottom of the list.

  6. Added contact details for the national health and justice team.

  7. Addition to collection of 'Population screening: reducing inequalities in secure settings'

  8. Added new group (Alcohol and drug treatment in prisons and secure settings) and publications.

  9. Added updated Flu in the children and young people’s secure estate.

  10. Added 'Adults on probation in community' needs assessment.

  11. Added 'Blood-borne viruses: managing potential risk in emergency workers'.

  12. Added 'Blood-borne viruses: managing potential risk in emergency workers'.

  13. Added 'Preventing offending and re-offending by children' document.

  14. Added 'Preventing and managing bacterial wound infections in prison' document.

  15. Added 'Group A Streptococcal Disease: information for people in prison'.

  16. Added link to The Conclusions of the WHO international meeting on prisons and health (2018) publication.

  17. Added summary report of November 2017 event.

  18. Added 'Women in prison: standards to improve health and wellbeing' to 'Prison and secure settings health services' section.

  19. Health and social care needs assessments of the older prison population publication has been published.

  20. Added proceedings of the Copenhagen conference and 'Five Nations health & justice collaboration: psychoactive substances'.

  21. Added Health outcomes in prisons in England: a rapid review.

  22. Added proceedings from conference in Kyrgyzstan in October 2015.

  23. Added flu vaccination audit of London prisons.

  24. Added health needs assessment examples, and lessons learnt summary report.

  25. The 'Ebola: advice for immigration removal centres guidance' has been uploaded.

  26. First published.

Infection control in prisons and secure settings

Prison and secure settings health services

Health needs assessment toolkits

Managing potential exposure to blood-borne viruses

Improving testing and treatment rates for bloodborne viruses

Five nations health and justice collaboration

In February 2014, the World Health Organization Health in Prisons Programme Collaborating Centre (WHO HIPP CC) founded, with other member states, the ‘Five nations health and justice collaboration’ with England, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The five nations meetings provide a forum for discussion, debate and collaboration for health and justice partners in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Their work also informs the work of UKHSA in its role as the UK Collaborating Centre for Health in Prisons (a partner of the WHO (European Region) Health in Prisons Programme) and facilitates sharing of best practice, mutual learning, and improved collective capability of health and justice partners in the five nations.

A joint meeting on prisons and health was held in December 2017 with WHO, EMCDDA and PHE (PHE is now part of UKHSA). WHO HIPP have published The Conclusions of the WHO international meeting on prisons and health (2018) stating that prison health needs to be considered in all policies.

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