Health Care for Women in Prison, Essay Example

Introduction

Women who are incarcerated at any age require much attention and focus because at this stage, their health needs are often ignored as a result of their status. Women who face this position are grossly underserved and do not receive the type of services and routine access that is necessary to achieve the desired results in a timely manner, thereby leaving these individuals vulnerable to a variety of conditions that could impact their lives in a negative manner. Due to incarceration, their physical and mental health needs may change, thereby requiring a higher level of focus and concern that will impact this population in a positive manner. This is an important step towards the discovery of new techniques and challenges to ensure that women in prison receive the type of healthcare services that will support their wellbeing during this period.

Analysis

Women who are incarcerated do not always receive a high level of support and attention from a healthcare perspective, and this includes a significant lack of preventative care in many cases (Nijhawan et.al, 2010). From this perspective, women face critical concerns that are difficult to overcome without preventative care access; therefore, they may acquire chronic disease and other illnesses more frequently than women in the outside world (Nijhawan et.al, 2010). Women must receive some type of support and advocacy within the prison system to ensure that their needs are met, because in spite of the reasons for their incarceration, they are human beings first, particularly if they are pregnant (Ferszt et.al, 2013). Regardless of their health, women in prison should receive a higher level of attention and focus through advocacy to ensure that they at least have access to basic services and preventative methods that will improve their quality of life, in spite of the surrounding environment in which they reside (Ferszt, 2011). In this context, women in prison require advocates that will support a higher quality of life, regardless of their environment (Ferszt, 2011).

Women who are incarcerated also require greater attention to the basic ideals of public health in order to foster higher quality of care and treatment as necessary (Van den Bergh et.al, 2011). In this capacity, women are highly vulnerable to attack and to other concerns that may compromise their health; therefore, they require a high level of support and understanding from advocates who support greater attention to their health within the system itself (Van den Bergh et.al, 2011). This process requires healthcare experts to support the needs of these individuals as women, not as prison inmates (Van den Bergh et.al, 2011). In this capacity, it is likely that there will be additional requirements and resources necessary to support this population, as it does not always receive the attention it deserves from the general public (Van den Bergh et.al, 2011). As a forgotten population, women who are incarcerated do not receive support and advocacy, in spite of their need to have the same healthcare services as other women in the outside world, thereby increasing their vulnerability, as well as expanding their health disparities in many ways (Van den Bergh et.al, 2011).

Conclusion

Women in prison require a higher level of support and attention for their needs that is not currently achieved in many of these systems. Women in prison also require preventative health measures and routine physical and mental health evaluations in order to ensure that their needs are met and they experience an improvement in their quality of life over time. This process ensures that women in prison receive the attention that they deserve to support their health-related needs while incarcerated. Therefore, advocacy for this group of women is essential to their health and wellbeing.

References

Ferszt, G. G., Hickey, J. E., & Seleyman, K. (2013). Advocating for pregnant women in prison: The role of the correctional nurse. Journal of forensic nursing, 9(2), 105-110.

Ferszt, G. G. (2011). Who will speak for me? Advocating for pregnant women in prison. Policy,           Politics, & Nursing Practice, 12(4), 254-256.

Nijhawan, A. E., Salloway, R., Nunn, A. S., Poshkus, M., & Clarke, J. G. (2010). Preventive healthcare for underserved women: Results of a prison survey. Journal of Women’s Health, 19(1), 17-22.

Van den Bergh, B. J., Gatherer, A., Fraser, A., & Moller, L. (2011). Imprisonment and women’s health: concerns about gender sensitivity, human rights and public health. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 89(9), 689-694.