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Within 2 weeks after penal release, adult prisoners are 12 times more likely than matched controls to die (within 2 years, 3.5 times more likely), usually from drug overdose (JW Gen Med Jan 23 2007). To study mental health in teenagers after release, investigators conducted structured in-person interviews with 1829 teenagers upon detention (1172 males and 657 females; mean age, 14.5 years) and reinterviewed 85% of them approximately 3 and 5 years after incarceration. Second informants (e.g., parents) were not interviewed.
Nearly 30% of participants were incarcerated at follow-up. Analyses controlled for age, ethnicity, and sex. At baseline, 62% of males and 65% of females had a DSM-IV diagnosis with impairment. Over time, prevalence of all d…