Assignment 2 (Correctional Facilities) APPLICATION 1- Explain the difference arg
ID: 127114 • Letter: A
Question
Assignment 2 (Correctional Facilities)
APPLICATION
1- Explain the difference arguments for and against the use of contracted health services and privately operated correctional facilities.
2- What are the factors that will determine the type of health services that correctional facilities may need over the next 10 years?
3- Provide an example of ethical problems (or conflict of interest) related to provision of health care in correctional facilities. Share your perspective and provide recommendations on how such ethical issues could be resolved.
Explanation / Answer
Despite the massive shift towards contracting out for prison health care, there are concerns about the resulting quality of service for inmates. While there are concerns that prison health care contacting out leads to understaffing and under-treatment, it is also possible that outsourcing produces efficiency gains by applying the principles of managed health care and thereby reduces costs without reducing quality. In fact, contracting out has sometimes been instituted in response to court orders as a means of improving prison health care quality. The argument for outsourcing as a means to improve quality rests on the notion that independent organizations(often,but not necessarily profit-seeking firms) are more flexible and efficient than governmentally operated prison health care staffs.
2.As correctional populations have grown, they have been forced to confront the myriad of problems that the individuals bring into the system. Longer sentences ensure that the prison population will age in prison, which is compounded by the poor health of many offenders. Drug abusers and individuals with mental illness are also disproportionately represented in prisons, which presents additional challenges of providing mental health, substance abuse, and medical treatment for these inmates Furthermore, prisoners have other problems such as histories of poor education and vocational training, that have generally limited their ability to financially support themselves through legitimate employment. Finally, the rates of youthful, elderly, and female offenders have, grown which serves to diversify the prison population.