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One of the main withdrawal symptoms experienced by those quitting smoking includes depression and increased irritability/aggression. This is something that needs to be carefully managed at all times, especially within the prison environment which has a population more susceptible to mental illness than the general population. More than 70% of the prison population has two or more mental health disorders. Male prisoners are 14 times more likely to have two or more disorders than men in general, and female prisoners are 35 times more likely than women in general12. The suicide rate in prisons is almost 15 times higher than in the general population: in 2002 the rate was 143 per 100,000 compared to 9 per 100,000 in the general population13. Hence, prison inmates who smoke may be more vulnerable to the side-effects of giving up smoking relative to the average smoker, and these side-effects may be exacerbated.
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