Infectious Diseases within Inmate Populations Essay

Infectious Diseases within Inmate Populations - Essay Example The research has been carried out this way to give more of an interpretation on the realism of the prison environment and what is currently proving adverse and hard to control. The conclusion summarizes the main points and brings emphases to the strategies that have been implemented in the last few years to keep down the rate of infectious diseases among the inmate population. In just the past five years the amount of people being incarcerated in America has increased dramatically, topping the statistics of other countries who incarcerate individuals on a yearly basis. Because of this continuing problem disease has become eradicate in the prison environment and there are times when the attempt to control it is overwhelming to prison and public officials (Needels et al 2005). However, in years dating back to the mid 1900's, the spread of disease in prison was even more intensive than it is today. The only difference was the occurrence of disease was kept concealed and many people were exiting the prison system with infectious diseases without being aware of them. ... Therefore in order to appropriately detour disease in the prison and jail systems in the future there needs to be extreme precautions and remedies put into affect in today's time before this issue expels over into the community as an epidemic of disease related illnesses. Of course, one of the most difficult infectious diseases within the prisons in the United States is the wide spread illness of HIV. In fact it has been a difficult disease to try and combat for many years but this is due to the fact of the activities within the prison systems that can lead to the acquisition of HIV in the inmate population. For instance, many prisoners engage in activities such as homosexual acts, unsterilized needle usage for tattooing and drug use, unsanitary habits, etc; within the prison environment which leaves them open to contracting a major disease such as this one and therefore the contraction of it within an inmate population is extremely high and very difficult to keep at a minimal level. However peer education has proven to be an essential way to provide prisoners with literary materials that help them to understand how to protect themselves from contracting such serious illnesses like Hepatitis and HIV (UNAIDS 1996). Nevertheless, there are still many p rison and jail systems that are highly lacking in intervention methods to control infectious diseases. This poses many concerns for the officials who work inside the prison for not only are the inmates health issues a concern but the health of those trying to maintain law and order within the prison environment, and those who visit inmates from the neighboring communities becomes a major problematic area for health officials trying to keep disease to a minimum. This is why it was previously stated that