Public Health Implications of Substandard Correctional Health Care

US citizens face a growing threat of contracting communicable diseases owing to the high recidivism rate in state and federal prisons, poor screening and treatment of prisoners, and inferior follow-up health care upon their release. Insufficient education about communicable diseases—for prisoners and citizens alike—and other problems, such as prejudice against prisoners, escalating costs, and an unreliable correctional health care delivery system for inmates, all contribute to a public health problem that requires careful examination and correction for the protection of everyone involved