Table 2.

Characteristics of included studies

Author	Year of publication	Journal name	Custodial setting	Primary care service(s)	Setting location (country)	Primary and secondary outcomes	Quality assessment
Calais‑Ferreira [30]	2022	BMC Health Services Research	Prison	After release: Medicare (universal health insurance scheme). Primary care encounters included services provided by primary care doctors and nurse practitioners	Australia	Quality of primary healthcare measures: continuity of care and use of extended consultations. Outcomes: Usual Provider Continuity Index (UPCI), Continuity of Care (COC) Index and at least one extended primary care consultation (> 20 min)	RECORD
Carroll [31]	2017	Medical Journal of Australia	Prison	Primary care attendance (defined by Medicare item descriptions). GP attendance included services directly provided by GPs, practice nurses or Indigenous health workers on behalf of a GP	Australia	Rates of GP attendance during the 2 years after prison release	Not stated
Dirkzwager [32]	2021	The Lancet Regional Health - Europe	Pre-trial detention centres and prisons	GP recorded information	The Netherlands	Health problems 1 year pre-/post-prison. Health problems (dichotomous) i.e. ‘attending a GP for a specific health problem ≥ 1 times that year’, or ‘not presenting that health problem or did not visit their GP at all in that year’	Not stated
Harvey [33]	2022	BMC Health Services Research	Prison	Transitions Clinic Network (TCN) programme existing community health centre and enhanced primary care to people released from correctional facilities who have a chronic health condition or > 50 years. Medicaid claims data: calculate year cost for each participant	USA	Not clear Costs associated: TCN program; Medicaid/criminal justice system	Not stated
Howell [34]	2016	Journal of General Internal Medicine	Jail, prison, detention center, or juvenile correctional facility	Primary care engagement: defined as ≥ 2 primary care visits, at least 90 days apart in the period 12 to 24 months prior to the survey and, separately, the immediate 12 months after the survey	Not stated	Measured blood pressure control (clinical data in the year after the survey). Primary care engagement. Measured receipt of antihypertensive medications in the year after the survey (classification codes in pharmacy refill data), and calculated the medication possession ratio (percentage of days with antihypertensive medication)	Not stated
Khanna [35]	2019	AIDS Care	Provincial prison (representing all provincial facilities, including jails, detention centers, and correctional centers)	Primary care use. Ambulatory care defined as primary or specialty care, but not emergency department care	Canada	Rates of primary care use	Not stated
Kouyoumdjian [13]	2018	BMC Health Services Research	Provincial prison (representing all provincial correctional facilities, including jails and detention centres)	Visits to general practitioners or Family Physicians (walk-in clinics/community practices)	Canada	Primary care use	None stated
Kouyoumdjian [12]	2019	Canadian Family Physician	Provincial prison	Any defined use of primary care as primary care attachment	Canada	Primary care attachment and team-based primary care attachment. Baseline: 2 years before incarceration; follow-up: 2 years after release	STROBE and RECORD
Kouyoumdjian [36]	2020	PLoS ONE	Provincial prison (representing all provincial correctional facilities, including jails, detention centres, and correctional centres)	Access to care after hospital discharge; Ontario Health Insurance Plan data on primary care use	Canada	30-day medical-surgical readmission to hospital. Examined access to care after hospital discharge including primary care	STROBE
Mahentharan [37]	2021	The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry	Provincial correctional facilities (remand and sentences < 2 years)	Health service use which included ‘primary care physician visits’	Canada	Primary outcome: time to reincarceration. Secondary outcomes: correctional events and health service use. Primary care (time to first contact after release): primary care physician contact (all, mental health–related and non-mental health–related contact)	None stated
McConnon [38]	2019	American Journal of Preventive Medicine	Provincial facilities, including jails, detention centers, and correctional centers	Visits to general practitioners or family physicians. Primary care use in the 3 years before and after the index date	Canada	Primary outcomes: individuals (screen-eligible) overdue for breast/colorectal cancer screening on index date	STROBE and RECORD
Norris [39]	2021	Journal Of Women’s Health	Provincial prisons	Primary care visits	Canada	Primary care visits	None stated
Palis [40]	2022	JAMA Network Open	Provincial correctional centers	Mental health services access (including primary care)	Canada	Release to reincarceration, with/without access to mental health services. Influence of mental health services access on time to reincarceration	STROBE
Palis [41]	2022	Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention, and Policy	Provincial prisons	Community Opioid agonist treatment (OAT) dispensation within two days of release from incarceration	Canada	Community OAT dispensation within two days of release	None stated
Wang [42]	2012	American Journal of Public Health	Recruitment - state prisons. The Jail Health Services database - County Jail	Arms: (1) Transitions Clinic: primary care team - primary care provider (experience with formerly incarcerated patients) and trained/certified community health worker (CHW) (personal history of incarceration) or (2) expedited primary care appointment at another safety-net clinic	USA	≥ 2 visits to the study-assigned primary care clinic	None stated
Wang [43]	2019	BMJ Open	Prison	Transitions Clinic Network: primary care centres (care for people recently released from incarceration)	USA	Primary outcome: reincarceration within 12 months. Secondary outcomes: preventable emergency department visits, hospitalisations and length of hospital stays	None stated
Young [44]	2015	BMJ Open	Prison	Self-reported use of mental health, alcohol and other drug, hospital, and subsequent primary care physician services in the community	Australia	Rates for hospital, mental health, alcohol and other drug and subsequent primary care physician service use Self-reported Primary Care Physican (PCP) service use within 1 month of release. Outcomes were self-reported use of mental health, alcohol and other drug, hospital, and subsequent PCP services in the community [subsequent PCP service use (3 and 6 month follow-up)]	None stated