Correctional Health Care

Advocacy and Research on Reproductive Wellness of Incarcerated People (ARRWIP) conducts research that addresses reproductive health care issues for incarcerated people. The goal is to create opportunities to improve reproductive well-being for people affected by the legal system — including making full-scope, compassionate reproductive health care accessible for incarcerated people and advocating for alternatives to incarceration.

Since its beginning, Community Oriented Correctional Health Services (COCHS) has worked to bridge the gap between correctional and community providers. COCHS' major emphasis has been to re-frame jail health care not as a place separate from the rest of the community, but as another health care delivery site within the community.

The National Commission on Correctional Health Care Foundation's (NCCHC) mission is to champion the correctional health care field and serve the public by supporting research, professional education, scholarships, and patient reentry into the community.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) offers resources to incarcerated people, correctional facility staff, public health professionals, community organizations, and others interested in correctional health. The CDC also examines resources, guidelines, and data related to correctional health and populations under correctional authority.

New Census Bureau data show the U.S. population is getting older — and at the same time, prison populations are aging even faster. In this briefing, the general practice of incarcerating older adults is examined.

The unremitting growth of older inmates in prison populations is one of the most pressing concerns in federal corrections today. The results of this paper suggest optimal policy responses to aging populations will need to be tailored to their jurisdiction.

The proportion of state and federal prisoners who are 55 or older is about five times what it was three decades ago. In 2022, that was more than 186,000 people. Prison systems across the U.S. have a constitutional obligation to provide adequate health care, and they're racing to figure out how to care for the elderly in their custody — and how to pay for it.

The population of incarcerated adults in the United States is aging rapidly. Given their expertise in health system processes, gerontological nurses in correctional and community health care systems can play a pivotal role in improving the care of this growing and vulnerable population.

This perspective examines aspects of accessibility, pandemic, policy, digital tools, and ethical and social considerations of telehealth in correctional facilities. Carceral facilities should continue to innovate and invest in telehealth to revolutionize healthcare delivery and improve health outcomes for incarcerated people.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a global public health problem in correctional settings. The International Network on Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users–Prisons Network is a special interest group committed to advancing scientific knowledge exchange and advocacy for HCV prevention and care in correctional settings. This review highlights seven priority areas and best practices for improving HCV care in correctional settings.

A panel of experts rated how they expect this type of policy to affect four outcomes: opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment engagement, OUD treatment retention, OUD remission, and OUD overdose mortality. Another panel of experts rated the policy on four decision-making criteria: acceptability to the public, feasibility of implementation, affordability from a societal perspective, and impartiality in health effects.

Telehealth offers the criminal justice system an innovative strategy for intervention and treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) for people who have been incarcerated. Justice stakeholders reap at least three benefits. Telehealth can help reduce healthcare costs. Connecting individuals to providers via telehealth can help avoid resource-heavy—and potentially dangerous—transfers to care settings. Telehealth can ease the burden of recruiting and retaining health care providers on site, particularly behavioral health providers.