The Different Structures of Healthcare for Prisoners: A Review Study

Health and medical problems of prisoners are health challenges. In an environment where the most important priority is maintaining order, control, and discipline, maintaining health and providing healthcare will have its own challenges. For this reason, some countries have transferred the responsibility for providing health services in prison to the Ministry of Health. We aimed to investigate the developments and changes in providing health services to prisoners and their different structures in different countries.

English language articles in Scopus, Google Scholar, and PubMed databases were searched. Advanced search options were used, initially based on the titles and keywords. Articles published until September 2019 were included using the following keywords: Prison, Jail, Primary care, Correlational health, Nursing, Prisoners, Health, and Healthcare.

Prison health was addressed not as an independent matter but as part of the duties of the Ministry of Health and the National Health System or the Ministry of Justice in each country. Reports from research carried out in France, Scotland, the Netherlands, Norway, Afghanistan, England-Wales, and New South Wales suggest a fundamental shift in the health care of prisoners in these countries and the process of transferring responsibility from the Ministry of Justice to the Department of Justice are among gained achievements.

The priority of the Department of Justice and the Prisons Organization is to maintain prison rules and regulations, so the quality of work and staff productivity will be greater when the responsibility of providing prison health services is transferred to the Ministry of Health and the National Health System. The opportunity for advanced research and training in this field will also increase.