Death in detention in the Northern part of Tunisia: a 15-year study (2005-2019).
Autopsy
Custodial deaths
Forensic medicine
Health in prison
Tunisia
Journal
International journal of prisoner health
ISSN: 1744-9219
Titre abrégé: Int J Prison Health
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101255940
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
05 Sep 2023
05 Sep 2023
Historique:
medline:
20
6
2024
pubmed:
20
6
2024
entrez:
20
6
2024
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
This study aims to analyze the pattern of deaths in detention in Northern Tunisia as well as the causes of death. The authors conducted a cross-sectional retrospective study including all the casualties of death in detention examined in the legal medicine Department in the main teaching hospital from 2005 to 2019. The department covers 10 out of the 11 governorates of Northern Tunisia and 13 prisons. Of a total of 197 casualties, only 2 were females. The mean age was 45.39 ± 14.43 years. A known medical history was reported in 63.5%, mainly cardiovascular disease, mental health disorders and diabetes. Half of the deaths occurred at the hospital. A total of 53 victims spent less than one year in custody before their death. Most deaths occurred due to disease-related causes (78.7%; Several missing data regarding the details of the detention circumstances as well as the absence in some cases of the toxicological and histopathology analysis results, which could bias the study findings. Death in detention in Northern Tunisia involved mainly males between their 30s and their 50s who died mainly from cardiovascular or pulmonary disease. These results underscore the importance of empowering the penitentiary health system. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is one of largest studies with regard to the number of decedents and the number of prisons from the Arab countries allowing to draw a pattern of casualties of death in prison.
Identifiants
pubmed: 38899616
doi: 10.1108/IJPH-02-2022-0015
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Pagination
440-451Informations de copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited.
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