Community health and public health collaborations

Abstract

Since the majority of inmates are eventually released back to their communities, public health officials have begun to recognize the tremendous public health opportunity within corrections and the potential to benefit the community with reduced illness rates, financial savings, improved public safety, and better use of the existing health care system and resources (Travis, Solomon, & Waul, 2001) From a policy perspective, inmates' health care and their reintegration back into the community began to take on new importance with the increasing number of HIV/AIDS cases identified in correctional settings (Conklin, Lincoln, & Flanigan, 1998) Collaborations between corrections, community, and public health programs at both federal and state levels have increasingly been developed to take advantage of the incarceration episode to decrease the burden of illness on those incarcerated and the greater community © 2007 Springer New York.