Recruitment In Prisons

As the warden of a prison, there are specific recommendations that I would make to lower the costs of medical treatment in the facility. The cost to maintain, implement, provide adequate and sufficient care in a prison facility is a significant concern in the United States. In the United States, there are currently 2.4 million inmates in correctional facilities. (Maruschak, 2008) This means there is about 1 of every 110 Americans in prisons on a daily basis. The constitution grants inmates the right to receive mental and physical health care, which creates problems with lack of funding and debt in the United States. Therefore, many factors contribute to the increasing medical costs in the jail and prison facilities. The first factor is the

Inmates are more likely to have higher rates of infections due to their living conditions and exposure to persons with diseases. In order to reduce mental and medical health costs in the prison system, there are a few suggested strategies. As the warden of a prison system, my administrators and I can try several strategies to promote and increase the recruitment and retention of staff by offering a salary that creates competition, benefits, and additional incentives to the staff are essential. Nevertheless, instead of hiring from a private sector, hospitals or doctor’s office; the prison system can employ a staff of medical physicians of their own. The hiring of reliable and consistent staff can reduce the turnover rates and increase the chances of consistency in staff. Therefore, requiring staff to maintain permanent positions can create familiarity among the doctors, nurses, and inmates. Also, being familiar with the inmate’s medical history, exposures, and risk factors can reduce mishaps and confusion. As warden, in my opinion, this may increase the efficiency of nurses and physicians on staff by requiring them to adhere to specific

Training should occur to ensure all staff members are evaluated on their performance according to the guidelines. Improving the comfortableness and confidence of employees is also a plus. As the warden, I will make sure medical staff provide annual checkup to inmates to reduce the cost of treatment and medication by maintaining the accuracy of medical and mental health needs. The medical staff will focus on reducing the cost of medical care with preventative care measures and reducing the number of unnecessary visits. Frequent visits to the medical care facility account for the majority of the expenses related to health care treatment. (Latessa & Smith, 2011) Therefore, those who are not in need of severe medical treatment or suffering from injuries should be required to make appointments based on the level of severity. The staff will make sure inmates who are not sickly, or suffering from injuries, or have had previous surgeries, or previous diseases, be informed of the level of urgency for those with more serious conditions. Nevertheless, providing more care in-house instead of transferring inmates can reduce the costs. As mentioned before, hiring more permanent and sufficient staff can reduce the need to transport to external clinics and