LETTER
Correctional Health Care
Laurence W. Cunningham
15 January 1993 | Volume 118 Issue 2 | Page 158
TO THE EDITOR:
The American College of Physicians, The National Commission on Correctional Health Care, and the American Correctional Health Services Association are to be commended for their position paper [1] addressing pertinent issues of correctional health care. The National Drug Control Strategy must be revised to include less incarceration for offenses related to drug abuse and more resources for drug rehabilitation.
As former Medical Chief of Staff of the Texas Correctional System, I believe that both quality of and access to care are important issues. The fact that only a minority of health care programs in jails and prisons are accredited should be addressed by mandatory accreditation procedures. Armand Start, MD, MPH, [2] is to be praised for initiating a prison health administration program. Other similar fellowship programs should be started, and competency examinations should be offered by The American Boards of Internal Medicine and Family Medicine to insure ongoing high standards of care.
The control of tuberculosis, human immunodeficiency virus, and other infectious diseases appears almost insurmountable. For each prison system, a public health physician and an infectious disease epidemiologist should implement detection and treatment in conjunction with the community at large.
1. Weiner J, Anno BJ. The crisis in correctional health care: the impact of the national drug strategy on correctional health services. Ann Intern Med. 1992; 117:71-7.
2. Wolinsky H. Medical care for prison inmates sharply declining. Am Coll Physician Obstet. 1992; July/August:5.
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