For example, a prison that serves as an initial intake and evaluation center might need particular emphasis on care of newly diagnosed patients, while a maximum security prison may have older inmates with longer, perhaps lifetime, sentences. These settings will necessarily focus on long-term and terminal care management. Prisons that house inmates with shorter sentences will be faced with the challenge of releasing inmates back into their home communities. Providers at these institutions will be helping integrate inmates back into their home environments upon release, focusing on issues such as continuity of medical care, appropriate education about health maintenance, prevention of complications and transmission of disease, and information about drugs and community resources. Dr. Zalumas applauds the providers she has met in the prisons.
Incarcerated people are our neighbors.
Jail and prison populations have doubled in the past ten years. Overcrowding and understaffing is legion in correctional systems. Inmates are admitted and released more frequently, making them active participants in the general population. Recent studies show that female inmates, inmates age 25 or younger, and African American and Hispanic inmates are at greatest risk for HIV infection. Drug offenses account for the single largest number of federal crimes for which people are incarcerated.