Incarceration & Disease

Comorbidity

• Multiple, simultaneous diseases

• Symptoms can become aggravated by after diseases

• Prisons are a closed environment with a high population density

  • Quarantining is not an option when gets sick

HIV / AIDS

• Spreads thought contact with infected blood and sexual contact

• Weakens the immune system

  • This will probably not kill someone directly, but will increase the risk of dying from more serious diseases

  • Diseases that are considered minor to others can be very serious

• Destroys white blood cells

  • HIV becomes AIDS when white blood cells becomes too low

• Currently incurable

  • There have been some cases with stem cell transplants but it can only be used in specific cases and is not accessible

• Symptoms and complications can be addressed to a certain extent with proper medication

Hepatitis B

• Blood-borne and sexual contact

• Can be acute or chronic

  • Instant and short term vs. long term complications

• Possible vaccines and treatment

• Liver problems

• Jaundice

• Non specific symptoms

  • Fever, headaches, vomiting

Hepatitis C

• Blood-borne and sexual contact

• Often symptomatic

  • Still a liver disease, but symptoms are likely to show much later on

Tuberculosis

• Spread through human infection

  • Crowds, coughing, sneezing

• Can be prevented through vaccination

  • Treatment varies on type

• Common pulmonary issues

  • if it gets into the bloodstream and spreads to other parts of the body, it can cause other problems

Obstacles top research

• Lack of data

• Non-specific program reporting

• Social attitudes

• Lack of institutional transparency

• Underreporting

• Lack of mandatory reporting legislation

• Prison funding for testing and reporting

• Funding for investigations

• Risk of litigation

  • Prison industrial complex