Synopsis

Public Health Behind Bars From Prisons to Communities examines the burden of illness in the growing prison population, and analyzes the impact on public health as prisoners are released. This book makes a timely case for correctional health care that is humane for those incarcerated and beneficial to the communities they reenter.

Reviewer: Paul J Goldstein, PhD(University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health)
Description: This edited book focuses on medical, legal, and public health issues in the American correctional system. Jails and prisons are presented as sites of medical treatment, as places where typically poor and sick persons may be screened for a variety of illnesses, where prevention interventions may be undertaken, and as institutions which discharge large numbers of persons back into local communities.
Purpose: The authors see the correctional system as the mother lode for those looking for resources and situations to make important improvements in public health practice. The purpose is to stimulate attention and enhance focus in this regard and this is a comprehensive reader with appeal to both students and practitioners. The fact that the United States leads the world in the rate of incarceration of its citizens is duly noted, and the public health implications of this reality are explored.
Audience: The book is intended for public policy practitioners, correctional administrators, correctional healthcare providers, inmate and patient advocates, lawyers, educators, students, public health practitioners, researchers, and community healthcare providers. The editor, Robert Greifinger, and the deputy editors, Joseph Bick and Joe Goldenson, have assembled an impressive group of contributors that include representatives from medicine, public health, and criminal justice. The foreword is written by David Satcher.
Features: Coverage of issues is far-ranging and comprehensive. Articles focus on oral healthcare, medicalization of execution, female and juvenile issues, infectious disease, chronic disease, mental illness, sexual predation, re-entry into the community, disabilities, HIV, and so on. A vast amount of information and statistics are pulled together in the various articles. This is an important primer for what should be done, but it tends to gloss over analysis of why what most experts say should be done is not always being done. For example, we are told that it is important to screen for hepatitis C (HCV) infections. We are also told that treatment for HCV is costly. We are also told that a series of Supreme Court decisions prohibit correctional institutions from manifesting deliberate indifference to serious medical needs of inmates. However, there is little discussion of the reality that many state and local correctional systems have very limited resources for provision of healthcare, that screening practices may reveal the presence of health conditions that the system cannot afford to treat, and thus some systems may be reluctant to screen for fear that they will be sued for not providing treatment for conditions that their screening has identified. While the book is impressive, it could have been enhanced with photographs (for example, of correctional healthcare facilities — then and now), charts and graphs indicating trends over time, and so on. While the source materials are good, there is little in the way of innovative or graphic methods to present the information.
Assessment: This would be an excellent sourcebook for a graduate seminar in public health and corrections. With its broad coverage of topics and many opportunities for a professor to add thoughtful analysis, the book could easily be adopted in schools of public health or departments of criminal justice. Few other books provide such up-to-date coverage.

Biography

Robert B. Greifinger, M.D., is a medical management consultant. He has extensive experience in the development and management of complex community and institutional health care programs. His current clients include managed care organizations and state and local correctional systems. Greifinger frequently serves as a court-appointed expert to report on ailing correctional health systems. He is also an adjunct Professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Previously, he was the Chief Medical Officer for the New York State of Correctional Services, which was responsible for the health care of 68,000 inmates.