Medical Issues In Prison Essay

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Pages: 4

After researching the medical problems that prisoners reported in 2004, I was surprised to see the percentage of inmates in jail and prison that report medical issues other than the common cold or virus such as the flu. Roughly one in four in both state and federal institutions reported having a medical problem (Maruschak, 2004). I have always heard that a huge part of a jail or prisons budget goes towards medical and dental coverage. The research also showed that “female inmates in both state and federal prisons were more likely to report having a current medical problem than male inmates, but were equally likely to report a dental problem” (Maruschak, 2004). Female inmates also reported medical problems more often than male inmates in both state and federal prisons with arthritis, asthma, and hypertension being the “most commonly reported medical problems among female inmates” (Maruschak, 2004). …show more content…
I can see the reason why these would be the most reported since being incarcerated has to be extremely stressful as well as hard on a body since the bedding is not ideal to sleep on as well as very little physical activity during the day. Over eighty percent have had a medical exam or blood test since they arrived to their incarceration destination (Maruschak, 2004). I would think that all inmates would have an entrance exam so that preexisting injuries or illnesses can be identified early on. The fact that almost everyone was tested for TB is imperative since it is highly infectious and can be spread extremely easy through the air by coughing and sneezing. The percentage of impairments that were reported was surprising; however the fact that “learning was the most commonly reported impairment among state and federal inmates (23% and 13%, respectively)” was not surprising to me (Maruschak,