Price Banks Diane, McGuire Morgane, Samedi Von, Whitehead Stephanie, Upton Melissa P, Jackson Nicole R
Biological Sciences Department, Bronx Community College, Bronx, NY, US.
Council of Laboratory Professional, American Society for Clinical Pathology, Chicago, IL, US.
Lab Med. 2025 Mar 10;56(2):107-112. doi: 10.1093/labmed/lmae070.
The United States notoriously has one of the highest rates of incarceration in the world, yet scant attention to the health care needs of those incarcerated exists within laboratory medicine and pathology training and education. This article explores health disparities among incarcerated and released individuals regarding diagnostic laboratory testing and pathology services.
A literature search was conducted for articles published between 2002 and 2023 using keywords including "healthcare," "incarcerated," "laboratory services," "pathology services," and "health insurance for prisoners." Central themes were extracted and discussed to reveal the realities of health care during and after release from incarceration. Excluded from the analysis were articles about the immediate or extended family of incarcerated persons.
Incarcerated individuals have an increased risk for the development and exacerbation of communicable and noncommunicable diseases and mental health disorders, which results in exceedingly high morbidity and mortality rates.
Policy changes are needed to mitigate disparities and improve health outcomes for incarcerated and released persons. Central to these disparities is decreased access to laboratory and pathology services, impeded by inadequate health care funding for these carceral institutions. Providing additional funding to the carceral system's health care budget is necessary to improve access to pathology and laboratory services.
美国是世界上监禁率最高的国家之一，然而在检验医学和病理学培训与教育中，对被监禁者的医疗需求却很少关注。本文探讨了被监禁者和获释者在诊断性实验室检测和病理学服务方面的健康差异。
对2002年至2023年发表的文章进行文献检索，使用的关键词包括“医疗保健”“被监禁者”“实验室服务”“病理学服务”和“囚犯医疗保险”。提取并讨论了核心主题，以揭示监禁期间和获释后的医疗保健现实情况。分析中排除了关于被监禁者直系或旁系亲属的文章。
被监禁者患传染病、非传染病和精神健康障碍的风险增加，这导致了极高的发病率和死亡率。
需要进行政策变革，以减少差异并改善被监禁者和获释者的健康结果。这些差异的核心是获得实验室和病理学服务的机会减少，而这些惩戒机构的医疗保健资金不足阻碍了这一点。为惩戒系统的医疗保健预算提供额外资金对于改善获得病理学和实验室服务的机会是必要的。
