Prison Health Care: Problems and Alternatives in the Delivery of Health Care to the Incarcerated (From Current International Trends in Corrections, P 141-162, 1988, David Biles, ed. -- See NCJ-119079)

• NCJ Number: 119097
• Author(s): J Moore
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 22 pages
• Sale Source: Federation Press (Distributed by Gaunt)
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: Australia

Annotation

Health care in a correctional setting is beset with difficulties in staff recruitment, inadequate resources, poor inmate health status, inmate overuse of health services, and restraints imposed by security.

Abstract

Reflective of their disadvantaged background, inmates are more likely than the general population to harbor serious, undetected health problems. Additionally, health problems stem from the stress of the prison environment. Health care services, with their outside medical trips and in-prison hospitalizations, are viewed by prison administrators as high-risk activities and are given low priority. Funding for correctional health care is often given low priority compared to security needs. This in turn limits resources for the securing of needed health care personnel. Constitutional issues, however, require prisons to provide a minimum standard of adequate health care for inmates. The courts have intervened to ensure that prisons meet these standards. There are three models of prison health care: in-house service managed by the warden or jail commander, care provided by the public health department or local hospital, and care provided by a local contractual firm which parallels the concept of a health maintenance organization. 47 references.