Correctional Health Care

Correctional Health Care
United States ranks the highest when it comes to the incarceration rate of its own citizens. The prevailing population of federal and state prisoners stands at more than 2.4 million or around 1 adult male to every 100. If you believe in a lesser sentencing for non-violent offenders, or support the idea of casting aside the key on every prisoner, we all can recognize that the bottom line of incarcerating prisoners is mind boggling. As it stands, the current cost of confinement per prisoner is approximately around $32,000 a year, this amount is also determined by the location, as well the prison being a state or federal facility. It is the responsibility of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC)

The report showed that the care was poorly organized, inefficient and inadequate. With the aid of numerous medical, legal and correctional professionals, they worked together to create a set of instructions that includes procedures, methods, and practices. These instructions are now known today as the Standards, they provided a guidance for all of the health care for correctional detentions centers, jails and the mental health facilities. Not only do these instructions cover medical procedures they also include the care of medical records, legal and personnel burdens realating to health

The research concluded that a number of prisoners that were confined actually had no business being incarcerated. Why? They suffered from a mental illness, which resulted in some sort of criminal act that resulted in being incarcerated. For example “In 1972 Marc Abramson, a psychiatrist in San Mateo County, published a study reporting a 36 percent increase in mentally ill prisoners in the county jail and a 100 percent increase in mentally ill individuals judged to be incompetent to stand trial” (Torrey, Kennard, Elsinger, Lamb, & Pavle, (2010), p. 2). There was a prison cliché back in the 1970’s that stated “break their spirit, just don’t break their bones”, and that was the kind of atmosphere that prevailed in the prison system. The health care available was poor and just short of being referred to as nonexistent. If it became necessary, inmates performed their on medical care on their fellow inmates, and at times, even on the corrections officers that contained them. That medical care included dispensing pharmaceuticals, pulling teeth, and even performing minor surgical procedures. The lack of initiative to maintain proper medical records or provide some sort of consistent care were issues that required a resolution. It got worse, as difficult as it is to