The Joint Unions in Prisons Alliance (JUPA) was established in response to ongoing concerns about the safety of staff working in prison environments. Its mission is to drive improvements in working conditions so that all staff can feel Safe Inside. Find out more about the Safe Inside Charter.

The RCN Nursing in Justice forum collaborated with both the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Royal College of General Practitioners to deliver a highly successful Health and Justice Summit in October 2024. The title of the event was Championing Excellent Care and Empowering Teams. This event brought together professionals working in the field of health and justice and those with lived experience to explore how excellent care can be championed and patient safety maintained when teams are empowered and enabled to embrace reflection, learning and improvement as part of daily care provision, within a culture of psychological safety. The event fostered meaningful dialogue and hosted a wide range of speakers from across different pathways . Building on this success, we look forward to working together again for the 2025 Summit this autumn and continue to underscore the importance of collaboration across disciplines. Further information will be shared later in the spring.

RCN resources

• Dementia Care Principles for People in Prison. This document sets out the five principles, based on evidence gathered from people living with dementia, carers and practitioners.
• RCN advice guide. Violence in the workplace
• Independent Advisory Panel for Deaths in Custody & RCN. Avoidable natural deaths in prison custody: putting things right
• Nursing in justice and forensic health care clinical topic. This specialist area contains information and resources relevant to those working in the field of nursing in justice and forensic health care.
• Time and space: mindfulness based videos for nursing staff. Six videos covering different stages of your day. See also: Time and space: enabling diffusing activities (2019)
• Cardiopulmonary resuscitation guidance (2016). To support the decision making process of when not to perform CPR in prisons and immigration removal centres.
• Migrant health. Information for nursing and midwifery staff to help signpost them to useful resources and where they can direct people to access health care.

Further resources

• Healthcare Improvement Scotland. Disclosure of rape or sexual assault (SARCS)
• HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) (2024) The long wait: A thematic review of delays in the transfer of mentally unwell prisoners
• HMIP. Annual Report 2023-24
• HMIP. Women's review report 2025. Time to care: what helps women cope in prison? A thematic review by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (PDF)
• National Autistic Society. Criminal Justice - a guide for police officers and professionals
• National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) (2024) Prison healthcare
• NHS England   eLearning for Healthcare . Adult Safeguarding in a Secure and Detained Setting
• NHS England. A review of health and social care in women’s prisons
• NHS England. Combatting racial discrimination against minority ethnic nurses, midwives and nursing associates
• Nuffield Trust. Inequality on the inside: Using hospital data to understand the key health care issues for women in prison
• Prison Reform Trust. Bromley Briefing Factfile Bromley Briefings
• RCPCH. Healthcare standards for children and young people in secure settings
• RCPsych. Standards for Prison Mental Health Services – Fifth Edition
• University of Surrey. How is cancer care best provided to patients in English prisons?

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