Strickland Introduces Inmate Health Bill

As the American prison population swells, the health and safety of the correctional staff stands in direct relationship to the health of the inmates. That’s the correlation Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio), a former corrections psychologist, drew when he introduced a bill in mid-May to establish the Office of Correctional Health within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The congressman outlined several health issues that inmates are increasingly forcing prisons to confront. If left unchecked by an oversight agency, he said, the working environment would worsen. Here are the problems Strickland discussed during his testimony before the Congressional Corrections Officers Caucus:

Drug use

According to a Department of Justice report released after a 1997 survey, 57 percent and 45 percent of state and federal prisoners, respectively, used drugs in the month prior to committing a crime. Nearly three-quarters of them abused drugs or alcohol in their lifetime.

Mental health

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) unveiled a comprehensive report showing that 7 percent of inmates in federal prisons and 16 percent of those in state prisons or local jails have had a mental condition, or have spent time in a mental hospital unit or treatment program.

Physical and sexual abuse

The BJS states that of the almost 1 million women who were incarcerated in 1998, nearly 60 percent have experienced physical or sexual abuse. The demand for counseling and other health care services in prisons is higher for women.

Geriatric care

As inmates grow older they succumb to illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and strokes.

Disease control

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), AIDS diagnoses in 1994 were almost six times more prevalent among inmates than in the general public. The CDC also notes that tuberculosis rates are substantially higher in prisons. When inmates are released, they “threaten the public health of the community,” Strickland warned.

“All of these alarming statistics contribute to the need for establishment of an Office of Correctional Health,” he said. “Such an office would coordinate all correctional health programs with HHS; provide technical support to state and local correctional agencies ...; cooperate with other federal agencies carrying out correctional health programs to ensure coordination; provide outreach to state directors of correctional health and providers; and facilitate the exchange of information regarding correctional activities.”