Prison Health and our community: A Public Health Investigation

You can see my ongoing work at NewsDesk.org or on this pitch's blog. The content is available to be republished as long as credit is given to all parties involved: NewsDesk.org, Spot.Us and Bernice Yeung.

Why should Californians care about prisoner and parolee health? Beyond the potential moral arguments, more than 90 percent of the state’s prisoners—who have higher rates of communicable diseases, mental health and addiction problems than the general public—will eventually be released back into society.

With 150,000 inmates serving time in California, the Golden State is home to the largest prison population in the country and thus, one of the largest parolee populations. And this group is on the rise—next year, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has indicated that he will release 38,000 prisoners due to the California budget crunch. Your support through Spot.Us will help me produce a regular news blog, posting at least twice a month, on Newsdesk.org tracking this issue throughout the rest of 2009.

But parolees without proper access to drug treatment, mental health and medical care could have potentially serious public health and public safety ramifications. This issue has attracted the attention of policy makers, prisons, doctors and social service providers, who are increasingly trying to connect parolees with medical care and social services upon their release.

I’ll be covering the latest in California prison re-entry policy with an eye toward public health and public safety. I’ll highlight notable research, promising community and governmental efforts, and most importantly, I’ll tell the human stories behind California prison re-entry.