Exploring factors associated with dual harm among young adult men in prison

Dual harm (coexisting self-harm and violence) is more frequently exhibited by people in prison than community populations. No research has solely investigated dual harm by young adults in prison. Using national, routinely collected data from His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (n = 20,403), this study explored whether young men (aged 18–21) who dual harmed in prison could be distinguished from young men who either sole harmed or did not engage in either harmful behaviour, based on demographic, developmental, criminological and clinical factors. Twelve per cent of the sample dual harmed in prison. Exploratory analyses revealed that for young men who dual harmed, poor education skills related more strongly to early police contact, and drug misuse was more strongly related to having a history of harm to self, compared to those who did not dual harm. Confirmatory analyses found that young men who dual harmed were younger when first in contact with the police and admitted to prison, spent longer in custody aged 18–21, and had fewer qualifications than the comparison groups. This study reports that young men who dual harm in prison have unique profiles that can be identified using prison data, and highlights the importance of upstream, preventative interventions.