CDC Report: Most State Prisons Cover Basic Health Needs

Recent research in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Health Statistics Reports found that most US states provide adequate health care within prisons, including mental health care, infectious disease screenings, chronic disease care, long-term care, and hospice services.

The researchers collected data from the National Survey of Prison Health Care, a survey that included semi-structured telephone interviews with officials within the Department of Corrections and Federal Bureau of Prisons. A total of 45 states participated in the study, with 43 states providing telephone interviews and 2 states submitting written responses. 

Of the 45 states that participated, study results showed that screening services were provided at most states, with 100% of prison admissions occurring in states with mental health and suicide screenings, 100% in states with tuberculosis (TB) screenings, 87.3% in states with hepatitis C screenings, 82.5% in states with cardiovascular screenings using electrocardiograms, and 99.8% in states that tested for high blood pressure.  

Furthermore, the study found that most hospitals reported providing mental and physical health services. Inpatient and outpatient care were reported by 27 and 44 states respectively. Additionally, 31 states reported providing chronic disease care, 35 states provided long-term or nursing home care, and 35 offered hospice care services. Most states reported employment of outpatient services for medical emergencies and dental care, while most prisons employed telemedicine for mental health services.

In a recent viewpoint published in JAMA, Newton E Kendig, MD, medical director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and retired assistant surgeon general for the US Public Health Service, explored ways in which the US criminal justice system could improve health care services.

“An unprecedented confluence of medical, sociologic, and political factors has created a unique opportunity to advance health care in the US criminal justice system,” Dr Kendig wrote. “After decades of both successesand setbacks, criminal justice health is poised in 2016 to move forwardin substantive ways.” 

Dr Kendig outlined how future reductions in the prison population, through new laws that reduce mandatory minimum sentences and divert non-violent offenders into treatment programs, could open up an opportunity for improving quality of care within prisons. Dr Kendig suggested that less prisoners means more time for current medical staff to focus on individual patients. 

According to Dr Kendig, prison health care also provides an opportunity to improve overall public health. He said that clinicians can more effectively diagnose, treat, and control sexually transmitted diseases in this uniquely high-risk population. Additionally, he stated that clinicians can identify infectious diseases, such as TB, before releasing prisoners back into communities – preventing community health issues.

“Keys to this evolution will be the expansion of criminal justice reform, resulting in... greater investment in the public health interventions achievable within US jails and prisons, and development of broader and deeper collaborations between correctional health care systems and academic medicine,” Dr Kendig concluded. —David Costill