Prison Healthcare
Angelia Burnette
HCS 430
May 28, 2012
Susan Kajfasz
Prison Healthcare
Healthcare is a big topic no matter how you view it, but when looking at it from the point of a person who is in prison, it takes on a whole new view. Those who are in prison have federal and state laws that say that the prisons must provide them with medical facilities for their healthcare needs. This paper will identify a governmental agency that regulates the healthcare that is provided to prisoners in an institution within the United States, along with the foundation of such an agency and who regulates the licenses, accreditation, certifications, and authorization for employment for those who work within one of these
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The BOP provides the inmates with the latest tele-health services through video conferencing, especially for those inmates who are provided behavioral health services. With this technology, inmates are able to communicate with their psychologists via internet. This helps tremendously with those inmates who are prone to violence or may be sick and cannot leave their cells. Other great benefits of tele-health is inmates have access to specialists that they otherwise would not have, it provides the correctional institution with greater certainty and control in arranging appointments and repeatedly allows emergency cases to be seen more quickly, and it is very cost effective for the institution (Magaletta, 2000).
Regulatory Authority The Federal Bureau of Prisons has guidelines and regulations that they must adhere to when it comes to providing healthcare to inmates within the prison system. Although some of the guidelines and regulations vary from institution to institution, the authority given to the BOP when it comes to health services is much the same regardless of which prison an inmate is housed at. The BOP regulates the health care services that are provided to the inmates based upon the needs of such. Most prisons have psychological services available to each inmate along with a provider for other medical services. As other needs arise, the BOP is responsible for providing and maintaining
In the U.S, there is a guy named Bob and he is in prison. Bob loves to make patchwork pillows for his son since he loves Bob’s type of patchwork. This prison has high security and is rich so he has the chance to make pillows. Find out how he will try to send his pillow to his son.
On May 4 1920 at the school of Washington high they were preparing for their field trip to the Washington prison. The principal was trying to scare the kids so they don’t go to prison. They began the ride on the bus and talked the whole way, they finally go there and there were giant walls around the prison. All the kids wondered why they needed walls that high. Then a man named Jim walked out and smiled he said he was going to be giving them there tour.
Health Care is not just of concern to the private sector. Health Care reaches into the prison system as well. Federal and state laws have been created to ensure that the prison system provides health care through the medical facilities available. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is the government agency that regulates the health care that is given to federal inmates in the United States. The BOP licenses’, certifies, accredits, and runs the background checks necessary to obtain employment.
According to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, children who have at least one parent in prison at the age of six are twice as likely to be involved in criminal activities as their peers (ASPE n.d.). We have heard it said many times; like father, like son. It means that, in traits such as looks, speech, or character, children are much like their parents. Growing up in a difficult situation often has some negative effects. Children of incarcerated individuals in particular have a rough time. They struggle to have good relationships with their parents, if any at all. Many develop mental and physical health issues due to such hardships. Therefore, the best method of ensuring healthy development
Anissa, I found it interesting that you included the ethical principle of distributive justice in your discussion board post. According to Andrews and Boyle (2016), distributive justice means equal services should be shared among all individuals. This principle and others are closely related to the criminal system and the administration of healthcare services to incarcerated individuals. As a correctional nurse, I can verify that although the prison healthcare system is not perfect, every prisoner receives access to medical, dental, and mental health services when needed.
Prison is not meant to be a comfortable place. Prison, historically, is meant to be a punishment for crimes committed against society. Once an individual is convicted and sentenced, they are then taken into custody of the state or federal government. The term custody refers to an individual taken to a detention facility. This term also refers to the concept that the government is now responsible for the wellbeing of the inmate. The individual is being punished, but the government must take reasonable steps to protect those in their custody until they are released back into society. It is vitally important for the safety of these individuals that administrators become aware of the factors that may put certain inmates at a higher
There are approximately 1,600,000 million inmates are behind bars in America (Glazer, 2014, para. 11) . Without a doubt, much of state prisons are overcrowded, which can lead to, very dangerous situations and environments. Due to the overwhelming number of inmates incarcerated it is difficult to deal with medical and mental health problems in prison. If most inmates complain about not feeling well or have symptoms, medical condition or disease that is not immediately, they would get some form of medication and get turned life back without seeing a doctor for a proper medical exam. A clear majority of the health care professional that work in the prison systems are very under qualified to work in such dangerous and trauma environments like prisons
California’s prison system is facing a number of infrastructure changes as a result of a judicial decision that came down from the United States Supreme Court, Governor of California et al v. Plata et al. California’s prison system was deemed inadequate and dangerous due to severe overcrowding which led to “needless suffering and death” (Rogan, 2012, 262). The court ruled that the State must reduce the number of inmates in California’s thirty-three state prisons. This ruling came about after two class-action lawsuits were filed, Coleman v. Wilson in 1990 and Plata v. Davis in 2001 (Rogan, 2012, 261). These lawsuits were filed by inmates that claimed they received poor medical and mental health care within the State’s prison health care system (Vicini, 2011,1). The evidence presented in these cases showed several shortcomings in California 's prison health care system (Rogan, 2012, 264).
would still need a consent from their treating doctor and a record of inmate’s medical history. Inmates who aren’t being treated well in prison would be transferred to hospitals for proper treatment (Reed and Lyne, 2000).
Researchers determined many barriers in healthcare were largely due to limited visiting times with healthcare providers and practice strategies that only addressed one problem per visit (Loeb, Penrod, Hollenbrak, & Smith, 2013). This resulted in prisoners who felt hopeless, ashamed, and embarrassed about their condition and had a negative effect on establishing rapport with healthcare providers. Many inmates were hesitant to advocate for themselves and believed the healthcare team would never advocate for them either. The lack of knowledge expressed by inmates in combination with decreased trust in nurses and doctors are the key characteristics that triggered poor healthcare decisions. Loeb et al. (2013) suggests the lack of trust between patients in correctional facilities and the healthcare team is the primary reason inmates delay care in prison, thus causing increased illnesses and decreased quality care. The authors also explored perceptions of the public regarding humane care of prisoners and found inconsistent beliefs. Many people agreed that humane care is the morally correct thing to do while others believed prisoners deserve the treatment, suffering, and pain they receive in prison. Since the latter view is not consistent with the core values of
Private prisons face fierce criticism on how they deal with inmate’s health care. According to a nurse within one of these facilities, “private
Having poor heath care within the prison system is something that is very dangerous. It can lead to things such as accidental deaths, worsening pre-existing conditions, and conditions occurring that could have been prevented if the proper care was
The rising cost of inmate health care in American prisons has been a topic of discussion for many. What has not been discussed as attentively, though, are the rising mental health costs for the aging inmate population. The mandatory sentencing policies instituted in the 1970s have caused a dramatic increase in the nation’s prison population, with 125,000 of 1.5 million inmates being aged 55 years or older in 2010, according to a Human Rights Watch report. Annual health care costs for an inmate aged 55-59 are approximately $11,000, while the annual costs for an inmate aged 80 and higher are nearly four times that amount. Compare these figures to the $5,500 annual health care cost for a younger inmate and the issue becomes undeniable – it is essential that our nation discovers a way to both decrease health care costs for inmates and address the growing population of elderly inmates.
Medical problems are recognized as issues with health, dental, psychological, injury, and other ailments of the human body. Inmate access to adequate medical care is sometimes unavailable and because of this, chronic and viral illnesses run rampant within the U.S. prison system. Based on a survey of inmates during 2004, a variety of information has been made available regarding inmate medical and health issues which can be used to make inferences and develop solutions to the prison healthcare system in the United States.
While, the issue of the incarcerated population having the privilege of this scarce medical resources is extensively and generally approved or compelling recognition within the correctional health profession and there is a case-law supporting the matter of concern, that the statues of a person as an inmate must not preclude such person as a patient from receiving adequate care in respect to serious health needs, regardless of the cost of such treatment. They also have all the social and moral values since the law does not exempt them from citizenship (Puisis, 2006, p.23).