Abstract
Health care within jails and prisons in the United States is typically insufficient to meet the medical and psychological needs of female inmates. Health services are often of low quality, especially in the areas of reproductive medicine. Mental illness, substance abuse, a trauma history, and sexual victimization while incarcerated can predict a more difficult adjustment to a correctional environment. Incarcerated women who are able to maintain contact with family members, especially children, can have a better prison adjustment. Recommendations are made to improve the types and quality of health care delivered to women in jails and prisons in countries around the world.
Highlights
Health care issues of women in jails and prisons in the United States generally have been ignored through history
Failure to address the mental health and substance abuse problems of incarcerated women can ensure the problems continue after release and include joblessness, homelessness, and the potential for loss of custody of children[30]
The New York Times, in a year-long investigation of the private company Prison Health Services, the largest provider of health services to the incarcerated at the time, documented the horrendous care and callow indifference to the health and mental health of inmates at the Rikers Island Jail in New York as well as the poor health care provided to children in the New York juvenile justice system[54,55,56]
Summary
Health care issues of women in jails and prisons in the United States generally have been ignored through history. Neither the health problems nor the quality of medical treatment provided to incarcerated women have been considered important and have received little research attention[1]. This lack of attention has been rationalized by data that show there are fewer women than men in prison and disproportionately fewer health resources are allocated to women. This article provides an overview of the health issues of American women in jails and prisons and the lack of responsiveness of correctional facilities to the health needs of incarcerated women. Inmates in U.S jails and prisons are much more likely to be poor women and men of color; this is true of incarcerated populations around the world[7]. Food is often nutritionally deficient, there can be unclean physical surroundings, and inadequate physical activity can have detrimental health effects[12]
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