The brainchild of Amity Health Centre GP Dr Susie Lawless, the Healthy Pathways pilot scheme has been granted just over $48,000 from the former Well Dunedin Primary Health Organisation's leftover funds.
The scheme aims to reintegrate released prisoners into primary healthcare.
Dr Lawless said the increased risk of death came in different ways, such as unintentional drug overdose, suicide, motor vehicle accidents, heavy drinking.
Inside jail, many prisoners had some of the best healthcare of their lives, but they often had no GP upon release, having lost contact with their old life.
With prisons now smoke-free, the scheme would underline that message to help released prisoners not fall prey to the habit again.
It would run for six months from this month, or until 100 released prisoners had enrolled.
Otago Corrections Facility prisoners who enrolled in the scheme would be eligible for two free GP visits, nurse visits, and free prescriptions. The assistance was available for two months.
The first GP visit would be a comprehensive healthcare check, involving nurses.
The pilot scheme would be assessed six months after it finished. Its success would be judged on the former prisoners' links with primary health.
Partly modelled on an Australian scheme, this one was different from others in New Zealand that focused on reintegrating prisoners into everyday life, and not specifically health.
Three Dunedin GP practices were taking part.
Sandy Baines, of Well Dunedin Health Trust, said it was still completing the details of grants totalling about $700,000 from the leftover PHO funds. A full list was expected in the next month.
Well Dunedin PHO merged with eight other PHOs in October 2010, to form the Southern Primary Health Organisation.
