The Mortality After Release from Incarceration Consortium (MARIC): Protocol for a multi-national, individual...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Criminology

Background:

• Over 30 million adults are released from incarceration annually worldwide.
• Individuals released from prison face significant physical and mental health challenges, increasing their risk of preventable mortality.
• Existing evidence on global mortality post-release is insufficient for targeted interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To comprehensively document the incidence, timing, causes, and risk factors of mortality in adults released from prison.
• To address limitations of previous studies, including inadequate power and precision.
• To provide a detailed epidemiological profile of mortality following incarceration.

Main Methods:

• Established the Mortality After Release from Incarceration Consortium (MARIC), a global collaboration.
• Included 29 cohorts from 11 countries, encompassing 1,337,993 individuals.
• Employed a two-step, individual participant data meta-analysis methodology for robust findings.

Main Results:

• The study analyzed 75,795 deaths over 9,191,393 person-years of follow-up.
• The combined sample represents a large-scale international dataset on post-release mortality.
• Data includes a high proportion of males (89%) within the study population.

Conclusions:

• The MARIC consortium is a significant advancement, highlighting international attention on post-release mortality.
• Findings will offer crucial evidence for policymakers and clinicians to reduce preventable deaths in this population.
• The study aims to inform targeted strategies for improving health outcomes for individuals transitioning from incarceration.