Introduction
Over the past few years, prisoners have shared their experiences in prison facilities, and most have contributed worrying testimonies. Factors needed to ensure the safety and comfort of inmates include proper holding conditions, rational decision-making, adequate supplies for food and other necessities, adequate staffing and training of prison attendees, and provision of necessary support to prisoners. Prisons are considered correctional facilities where inmates are brought to change their behavior and learn how to live well with others rather than a place of extreme punishments. However, factors such as poor habitable spaces, poor sanitation, inadequate staffing, inadequate medical services, and poor rehabilitative services have been reported to cause the failure of correctional facilities.
Being a passionate medical health practitioner, I love to ensure that the health of society is always put first. Therefore, my choice for this topic developed due to the healthcare concerns in prison facilities. Additionally, I am concerned about the people of black culture who receive considerably longer prison terms and under bad conditions. I also have friends and family members who serve prison terms, and some are experiencing medical conditions that need attention that they fail to receive. Therefore, this paper explores the healthcare conditions within prison facilities, how prisons deal with them, racial disparity in healthcare provision, and solutions to the problems.
Review of Literature
Racial Disparity in Health Conditions among Prisoners
To determine whether there is equity in healthcare provision in prisons, this paper reviewed a study by Nowotny et al. (2017), which describes the similarity between healthcare disparity in prisons and the general population. Nowotny and colleagues paint a comprehensive picture of the country’s health by comparing health inequalities between the black and white races among prisoners to gaps in the noninstitutionalized community (Nowotny et al., 2017). The results show that although there is multiple health selection in prison for blacks and whites, population health estimations underestimate the true health burden in the United States prisons.
Additionally, inmates experience poorer health outcomes than the general population, but black inmates are worse off, indicating a different health selection when entering jail. Health problems, especially for black inmates, become more common when prisoners’ health is included in public health estimation, meaning that prisoners receive little medical attention (Nowotny et al., 2017). Therefore, the United States government should spend more on prisoners’ health and ensure equity in healthcare access.
Mental and Physical Health in Prison
Most prisoners undergo some episodes of mental health challenges that inhibit their ability to control their emotions. According to Semenza and Groshloz (2019), prisoners’ misbehavior can be associated with inmates’ demography and experience with the criminal justice system. Semenza and Groshloz argued that the poor health condition in cells contributes significantly to stress, depression, or anxiety that might result in drug use and, consequently, misconduct. For instance, prisoners dealing with physical and mental health conditions have a 48% chance of engaging in non-serious misbehavior (Semenza & Grosholz, 2019). Improving incarcerated individuals’ physical and mental health services will improve health outcomes and reduce deviant behavior (Semenza & Grosholz, 2019). Correctional facilities management should be aware that most inmates require medical care. To give inmates access to healthcare consistent with what is offered in the community, adequate funding should be channeled to prison healthcare programs (Semenza & Grosholz, 2019). Additionally, convicts must seize the chance that comes with their incarceration. Many are in bad health and come from poor, underprivileged neighborhoods. Effective jail treatment ultimately lowers the health concerns of residents of the community since prison health is essential to healthy public health (Semenza & Grosholz, 2019). Therefore, providing them with quality health will improve their conditions and enable them to have better prison terms.
Healthcare in Prisons During COVID-19
Healthcare services in developing countries and poor regions are alarming. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the longstanding challenges that prisoners face. For instance, during the surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, most prisoners were denied the chance to interact with their families and friends (Mutingh, 2020). Although it was a positive measure to curb the spread of the pandemic, it increased the suffering of prisoners. Prisoners need family and friends for material and emotional support, which enables them to stress and depression (Nowotny et al., 2017). Nonetheless, it was difficult for prisons to curb the spread of diseases due to congestion in the prisons and cells.
There is a great need to add new prison facilities fitted with basic resources to reduce congestion in facilities and make jail terms more bearable. Courts should avoid overcrowding using non-custodial strategies, such as sending criminals to community service for petty crimes (Mutingh, 2020). Such methods are good since they help reduce health risks, a recommended concept in nursing practice.
Race and Punishment in American Prisons
Most American prisons, just like many parts of the world, are overcrowded with prisoners. This leads to a problem of staff maintaining order within correctional facilities. For instance, one correctional officer oversees 70-100 inmates. The staff must make harsh decisions to deal with problematic prisoners and may subject the prisoner to unfavorable living conditions, such as solitary confinement (Olson, 2016). For instance, 2.3% of black Americans were imprisoned in 2007 compared to less than 1% of white Americans (Olson, 2016). Black inmates have higher chances of solitary punishment than their white counterparts (Olson, 2016). In the United States, blacks are often stereotyped as being more violent and aggressive. Solitary confinement has long-term health challenges since the inmates develop survival mechanisms to cope with their environment. This may include the development of antisocial behavior and drug use to reduce the loneliness of solitary confinement (Olson, 2016). Unfortunately, these behaviors do not stop upon release, and the prisoners might face difficulty stopping them. Failure to overcome their anxiety makes the prisoners more depressed and develop mental health problems (Olson, 2016). As passionate healthcare practitioners, institutions should avoid race-based treatment of inmates and provide mental health services for all inmates.
Prison Healthcare Governance
Clinical independence is crucial for effective healthcare and healthcare professionals in prison facilities. International standards define the independent delivery of clinical services as a crucial component of quality health care in prison settings (Pont et al., 2018). Based on the World Medical Association, healthcare practitioners should perform their activities in an independent environment where their roles are not affected by third parties (Pont et al., 2018). This principle is critical in a prison setting where prisoners’ relationship with the prison healthcare staff is not based on free will.
Correctional healthcare providers are often required to conduct specific tests on their patients to prove that they are fit for punishment when no symptoms require such tests. The process may include retrieval of body fluid to test for drugs, body cavity searches, and solitary confinements (Pont et al., 2018). In detention institutions, it is frequently difficult for prisoners to express their right to self-determination (dissent or informed consent).
For instance, while a patient’s appointment with a doctor in the free world implies basic consent for the doctor to diagnose the patient and offer treatment, such implied consent is not available in prison. This is because prisoners are not allowed to select their doctor or treatment plans, and the prison’s healthcare professionals are commanded to conduct the examinations by the administration rather than the patient (Pont et al., 2018). Although there are limited training opportunities in medical ethics accessible to prison healthcare workers, jail environments typically have a shortage of awareness of healthcare ethics, particularly a grasp of the significance of clinical independence (Pont et al., 2018). Human rights should be considered in healthcare services, and correctional facilities should avoid forcing prisoners into unfavorable medical practices.
Conclusion
Due to inadequate resources and time, the study was limited to a literature review on healthcare practices in prisons. Concepts of racial disparity and poor healthcare service were found to be dominant in correctional facilities. Furthermore, the study revealed that prisoner healthcare service providers do not adhere to medical ethics since patients lack consent in some medical practices conducted in prisons. The study also found that congestion in prison facilities leads to tension between prison staff and inmates and may result in unhealthy punishments. Therefore, governments should develop more prisons and ensure prisoners receive optimal healthcare services. Additionally, Prisons should ensure the independence of healthcare services to allow prisoners to receive the medical services they deserve and allow healthcare practitioners to adhere to their professional ethics.
References
Mutingh. (2020). Africa, prisons and COVID-19, Journal of Human Rights Practice, 12(2), 284–292. Web.
Nowotny, K. M., Rogers, R. G., & Boardman, J. D. (2017). Racial disparities in health conditions among prisoners compared with the general population. SSM-Population Health, 3, 487-496. Web.
Olson, J. (2016). Race and Punishment in American Prisons, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 26(4) 758–768. Web.
Pont, J., Enggist, S., Stöver, H., Williams, B., Greifinger, R., & Wolff, H. (2018). Prison health care governance: guaranteeing clinical independence. American journal of public health, 108(4), 472-476. Web.
Semenza, D.C., Grosholz, J.M. (2019). Mental and physical health in prison: how co-occurring conditions influence inmate misconduct. Health Justice 7, 1. Web.