NCJ Number
160906
Journal
Corrections Alert Volume: 2 Issue: 22 Dated: (February 26, 1996) Pages: 3-11
Editor(s)
B Mendelsohn
Date Published
1996
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Five articles examine issues pertinent to planning for correctional health care in the 21st century.
Abstract
An introductory article notes that increasing prison populations and longer prison terms are placing a large cost burden on inmate health care. Various ways of addressing the problem are mentioned, including global budgeting, universal coverage, mandatory "enrollment," and limited patient choice. The second article consists of an interview with Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu, the medical director for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Moritsugu envisions a near future in which care and custody are not in competition but rather in coordination, in which data collection and analysis become the driving forces behind correctional health care and in which "correctional health care comes into its own in terms of a partner with the other components of corrections." The third article, written by Barbara Nadel, a member of the American Institute of Architects, focuses on the design of correctional health facilities under the demands of increasing corrections populations. She advises that current correctional health facilities are unable to deal with new building system technologies, functional and programming criteria, medical equipment, infection control, and staffing and security requirements; these deficiencies contribute to steadily escalating operational costs. In another article, key personnel in corrections comment on the future of correctional health care, and the final article suggests resources for helping corrections professionals formulate a plan to address the coming challenges in correctional health care.