Australia's prisoners take more medications for mental health, addictions and chronic conditions than their counterparts on the outside, says a new study.
Compared with the general community, inmates were nine times as likely to be on antipsychotics, more than twice as likely to be taking antidepressants or mood stabilisers, and four times as likely to be taking medications used in addictive disorders.
And the differences are even more marked between female prisoners compared to other women.
"Prisoners are largely considered to be in poorer health than the general community, and this is reflected by the types and quantities of medications taken," said Mark Cooper-Stanbury, spokesperson for the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
"Compared with the general community, prisoners also started taking medications for chronic conditions at younger ages."
The AIHW report, Medication use by Australia's prisoners 2015: how is it different from the general community, shows that about half of all prisoners are taking medications of some kind.
While this is less than the general population, prisoners do not have easy access to over-the-counter vitamin purchases which are widely used in the general community.
