The Hampden County Correctional Center (HCCC) in Ludlow, Massachusetts has implemented an award-winning Public Health Model for Correctional Health Care that provides a spectrum of comprehensive health and mental health services to
inmates, linking them to the community from which they came and to which they return. This successful and innovative system builds collaborations between correctional health and public health, reducing costs by contracting with non-profit providers in the community. We invite you to browse our website to learn more about this groundbreaking model of care that builds healthier and safer communities by addressing the needs of the incarcerated.
Introduction to the Model
The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with 1 in 32 U.S. adults under some form of correctional supervision. Incarcerated individuals experience disproportionately higher rates of infectious and chronic diseases, substance abuse, mental illness and trauma than the general population. Inmates are also overwhelmingly poorer, less educated and more likely to be persons of color than the general population. Since the majority of inmates are eventually released back to their communities, interventions to address their health and mental health problems present opportunities to improve both the public's health and safety.
Hampden County's Public Health Model for Correctional Health Care is based on the premise that a comprehensive program of early detection, health education, prevention, treatment, and continuity of care is instrumental in reducing the incidence and prevalence of disease in correctional facilities and communities.
The model takes a comprehensive approach to the physical and mental health
care needs of inmates and their communities, delivers high-quality health care based on community standards, and establishes linkages with providers in the communities to which inmates return. Providers are dually based at the correctional facility and in the community, creating collaborations that ensure continuity of care and ongoing management of medical and mental health problems after an inmate's release.
Taking advantage of the period of incarceration is consistent with established
public health mandates to control communicable diseases and promote effective prevention measures. The program model not only treats acute health needs, but also evaluates the long-term care needs of the inmate population. A correctional jurisdiction that adopts the major components of the public health model can reap the benefits of improved inmate, staff, and community health and safety.