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January 16, 2009
Two reports: Many prisoners sick, access to care poor: study and Less Than One in Five Prisoners Needing Addiction Treatment Gets Help, NIDA Reports
Many inmates sick, access to care poor: study
Thu Jan 15, 2009
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Inmates in U.S. prisons and jails have rates of serious illness that far exceed those of the general population and many lack access to healthcare, researchers said on Thursday.
They found that 800,000 inmates -- about 40 percent of the U.S. prison population -- have a chronic medical problem such as diabetes, asthma or heart or kidney problems.
And more than 20 percent of sick inmates in state prisons and 13.9 percent in federal prisons had not seen a doctor or a nurse since their incarceration began.
"A substantial percentage of inmates have serious medical needs. Yet many of them don't get even minimal care medical care," said Dr. Andrew Wilper of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, whose study appears in the American Journal of Public Health.
Wilper did the research while at the Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts. He and colleagues analyzed data from a 2002 survey of inmates in local jails and a 2004 survey of prison inmates.
They found a far higher incidence of chronic disease among inmates. Compared to other Americans of the same age, state prison inmates were 31 percent more likely to have asthma, 55 percent more likely to have diabetes, and 90 percent more likely to have suffered a heart attack.
Access to care was worst in local jails and best in federal prisons. One-quarter of jail inmates who had suffered severe injuries had received no medical attention, versus 12 percent in state prisons and 8 percent in federal prisons.
The researchers also looked at mental illness. While about a quarter of inmates had a history of chronic mental illness like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression or anxiety, two-thirds of them were off treatment at the time of their arrest.
Only after their imprisonment did most of these inmates receive treatment.
A study this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association found inmates with drug problems are not getting adequate treatment.
The study by researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, found about half of all prisoners -- including some guilty of non-drug offenses -- are dependent on drugs. Yet less than 20 percent of inmates suffering from drug abuse or dependence get formal treatment.
They said the criminal justice system was in a position to encourage drug abusers to enter and remain in treatment, disrupting the cycle of drug use and crime.
(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Will Dunham and Xavier Briand)
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE50F02Z20090116
AND....
Less Than One in Five Inmates Needing Addiction Treatment Gets Help, NIDA Reports
January 13, 2009
Half of all prison inmates are dependent on drugs -- including many incarcerated on non drug-related offenses -- but less than 20 percent get the treatment they need, according to a new report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
"Addiction is a stigmatized disease that the criminal justice system often fails to view as a medical condition; as a consequence, its treatment is not as available as it is for other medical conditions," said Redonna K. Chandler, principal author of the report and chief of NIDA's Services Research Branch.
NIDA researchers stressed that the criminal-justice system is ideal for getting people into treatment and applying pressure to complete therapy. They noted that a dollar spent on drug courts, for example, saves $4 in healthcare costs, while a dollar spent on prison-based treatment saves $2-$6.
The study appears in the Jan. 14, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
This article summarizes an external report or press release on research published in a scientific journal. When available, links to the sources are provided above.
Treating Drug Abuse and Addiction in the Criminal Justice System
Improving Public Health and Safety
Redonna K. Chandler, PhD; Bennett W. Fletcher, PhD; Nora D. Volkow, MD
JAMA. 2009;301(2):183-190.
Despite increasing evidence that addiction is a treatable disease of the brain, most individuals do not receive treatment. Involvement in the criminal justice system often results from illegal drug-seeking behavior and participation in illegal activities that reflect, in part, disrupted behavior ensuing from brain changes triggered by repeated drug use. Treating drug-involved offenders provides a unique opportunity to decrease substance abuse and reduce associated criminal behavior. Emerging neuroscience has the potential to transform traditional sanction-oriented public safety approaches by providing new therapeutic strategies against addiction that could be used in the criminal justice system. We summarize relevant neuroscientific findings and evidence-based principles of addiction treatment that, if implemented in the criminal justice system, could help improve public heath and reduce criminal behavior.
Posted by lois at January 16, 2009 09:25 AM