NCJ Number
78617
Journal
Kriminologisches Journal Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Dated: (1980) Pages: 148-155
Date Published
1980
Length
8 pages
Annotation
The views of the Organization for Workers' Social Welfare on problems of medical care in corrections institutions in West Germany are outlined.
Abstract
While medical care in general is changing because of improvements in medical technical areas, medical care in corrections facilities has not kept up with these developments. Part of the problem lies with the nature of the institutions: certain illnesses, particularly psychosomatic ones, tend to be especially prevalent in corrections institutions. Doctors may be viewed by inmates either as persons to be trusted or as extensions of the prison administration. Given the demands on prison doctors and the low compensation for their work, medical personnel are difficult to recruit. Nevertheless, every citizen, including the prison inmate, has the right to medical assistance, for psychological as well as physical problems. New possibilities must be developed to provide this care. Treatment for acute illnesses may be performed at general or specialized hospitals; special beds can be reserved for especially dangerous inmates in general hospitals. Otherwise, a shared prison hospital could be used by corrections facilities which are close together. Large prisons must establish wards for inmates with long-term illnesses. Prison doctors must handle outpatient cases, calling specialists as needed. Arrangements must also be made for temporarily or permanently disabled patients to receive the level of care they would enjoy through their family or employers. The role of social factors in illness is especially pronounced in prisons. Consequently, social and recreation workers must assist prison staffs, doctors must be more extraordinarily sensitive to social dimensions of physical problems, and clinical psychologists must be employed to provide intensive care to problem inmates. Volunteer groups can be of great assistance in helping to open up corrections institutions to outside influences, thus reducing psychological and somatic problems of inmates.