Compliance with isoniazid prophylaxis in jail.

The incidence of tuberculosis in New York City has risen dramatically in the last decade, an increase that has also been seen in the incarcerated population on Rikers Island, New York City's principal jail. We have investigated the establishment and maintenance of compliance with isoniazid prophylaxis in this population. Factors affecting compliance were studied in a sample of young men who were found to be tubercullin-reactive at the time of their incarceration. Compliance was quantified by determining the number of doses taken divided by the total number of available doses. Mean compliance for the 74 subjects was 37.5%. Two factors were important determinants of compliance: (1) the building where the inmate was incarcerated and (2) his knowledge of tuberculoses and the isoniazed regimen. The influence of the housing unit on compliance suggests that administrative responses to prison overcrowding, an increasingly prevalent condition in the nation's jails and prisons, may have an unintended and detrimental effect on medical care and public health.