1HEALTHCARE In the USA, older inmates are found to be the fastest growing segment amongst the prison population.Accordingto the researchers,due tothe ultralong sentencesof thenation, approximately 2.3 million prisoners of the nation are getting older. From 1996 to 2008, the number of older adults in jail who were age 55 or older increased 278% compared to a 53% increase in the overall jail populationThe fact that this population is expected to experience an early onset of several health concerns cannot be ignored.Lack of efficient heath care facilities and number of healthcare service providers has been evidenced which is hampering the provision of effective healthcare to the older inmates (Luallen and Cutler 2015). A good number of inmates are found to suffering from chronic health conditions. The cumulative burden associated with multiple chronic condition as well as adverse health risks can be pointed out to be the chief reason behind premature an accelerated aging of the prisoners. It can be clearly understood that effective healthcare facilities needs to be provide in order to deal with the issues. In the following paragraph, the chief reasons behind increment in the numbers of older prisoners as well as issues in the management of older inmates will be evaluated. Along with a time frame on which health service plan should be implemented will also be presented in this report. The chief reason behind the increasing number of older includes ultra long sentences of the nation’s law. Form the 1970s, the USA government enacted laws that allowed for prolonged sentences as well as restricted early release. The chief three polices responsible for this includes the mandatory minimum sentences, the elimination of federal parole and the strikes law (Millemann, Bowman-Rivas and Smith 2017). The majority of the now elderly prisoners entered and stayed there at a much younger age, mainly because of the laws which mandated minimum sentences for non-violent crime.
2HEALTHCARE Another reason behind increment in the number of inmates who are serving life sentences has got increased in USA in a dramatic way. This includes inmate who possess no chance of getting released. The amount of life sentence rises from 34,000 to 140,610 which is about four folds between 1984 and 2008 (Kratcoski 2018). Several inmates may be eligible for release after about 25 years, yet only a small part will be released, based on jurisdiction. The third reason behind increase in the number of older inmates includes increment in rearrest as well as those who use drugs and have already spent some time behind bars. Convicts above the age range of 55 years are getting arrested and are sentenced to prison at a high rate (Blowers and Blevins 2015). Prison populations of aged inmates in America are increasing at a rate without precedent, which has a major impact on the governments struggling to adapt to the changes. The persistent overcrowding in jail usually follows the aging patterns, and there are signs of a strong correlation between aging and the conflict with criminal conduct, indicating that the issues can at least be resolved partly by releasing suitable individuals early. There are a couple of relevant policies, but they have not sufficiently achieved this objective (Nowotny et al. 2016). Thus it can be pointed out that lack of effective policies is a major issue that the management of prison is facing. The second issue faced by the management of prisons in America is lack of efficient health care service providers. The current number of heath care providers is far from sufficient to provide efficient care to the inmates. Conserving the fact that the nation is already facing issues with lack of healthcare service providers, it is becoming difficult for them management to deal with the growing elderly population with limited healthcare professionals (Al-Rousan et al. 2017).
3HEALTHCARE The third issue includes lack of funding from the government. The restricted mount of funding for inmates is making it more difficult for the management to recruit sufficient amount of health care professionals for providing care to the elderly inmates (Humphreys et al. 2018). One of the most effective ways to deal with the issue is to train younger inmates in order to provide effective healthcare services to the older inmates. Considering the fact the older inmates along with various physical issues alsosuffer from mental issues like dementia, alziemers and others, effective training should be provided to younger inmates to help the former out. In the following paragraphs, a time frame of the healthcare plan for inmates has been produced. taskIndividual responsibleTime frame 1.Educating younger inmatesabout the importance ofproviding healthcare services to the older inmates Prisonmanagers, younger inmates 2-3 months 2.Recruiting healthcare professional forprovision oftrainingto theyounger Prisonmanagers, younger inmates 1-2 months
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4HEALTHCARE inmates 3.Recruiting younger inmatesfor older population Prisonmanagers, younger inmatesPrison managers,younger inmates 2-3 months 4.developinga monitoring teamfor assessingthe performance of the younger inmatesona regular basis Prisonmanagers, younger inmates 2-3 months
5HEALTHCARE Reference list Al-Rousan, T., Rubenstein, L., Sieleni, B., Deol, H. and Wallace, R.B., 2017. Inside the nation’s largest mental health institution: A prevalence study in a state prison system.BMC public health,17(1), p.342. Blowers, A.N. and Blevins, K.R., 2015. An examination of prison misconduct among older inmates.Journal of Crime and Justice,38(1), pp.96-112. Humphreys, J., Ahalt, C., Stijacic-Cenzer, I., Widera, E. and Williams, B., 2018. Six-month emergency department use among older adults following jail incarceration.Journal of urban health,95(4), pp.523-533. Kratcoski, P.C., 2018. Summary: Older Criminals and Victims. InPerspectives on Elderly Crime and Victimization(pp. 245-261). Springer, Cham. Luallen, J. and Cutler, C., 2015. The growth of older inmate populations: How population aging explains rising age at admission.Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences,72(5), pp.888-900. Millemann, M., Bowman-Rivas, R. and Smith, E., 2017. Releasing older prisoners.Reforming criminal justice: A report of the Academy for Justice,4, pp.325-339. Nowotny, K.M., Cepeda, A., James-Hawkins, L. and Boardman, J.D., 2016. Growing old behind bars: Health profiles of the older male inmate population in the United States.Journal of aging and health,28(6), pp.935-956.