Addressing mass incarceration: A clarion call for public health

摘要

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world with 2.2 million people in jails and prisons. The growth in the number of people behind bars over the last four decades is staggering; since the mid-1970s, it has swelled by more than 500%. The United States constitutes less than five percent of the world's population, yet accounts for about one quarter of its prisoners, and at 756 per 100 000, the per capita incarceration rate far exceeds that of other industrialized democracies.1 People in correctional facilities are among the unhealthiest and most medically underserved in society. Compared with the general population, they have significantly higher rates of infectious and chronic diseases.