Mass incarceration is a sociostructural driver of profound health inequalities in the United States. The political and economic forces underpinning mass incarceration are deeply rooted in centuries of the enslavement of people of African descent and the genocide and displacement of Indigenous people and is inextricably connected to labor exploitation, racial discrimination, the criminalization of immigration, and behavioral health problems such as mental illness and substance use disorders. This article focuses on major public health crises and advances in state and federal prisons and discusses a range of practical strategies for health scholars, practitioners, and activists to promote the health and dignity of incarcerated people. It begins by summarizing the historical and sociostructural factors that have led to mass incarceration in the United States. It then describes the ways in which prison conditions create or worsen chronic, communicable, and behavioral health conditions, while highlighting priority areas for public health research and intervention to improve the health of incarcerated people, including decarceral solutions that can profoundly minimize—and perhaps one day help abolish—the use of prisons.

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公共卫生与监狱：大规模监禁时代的优先事项

大规模监禁是美国严重健康不平等的社会结构驱动因素。支撑大规模监禁的政治和经济力量深深植根于几个世纪以来对非洲人后裔的奴役以及对原住民的种族灭绝和流离失所，并与劳工剥削、种族歧视、移民刑事定罪以及诸如此类的行为健康问题有着千丝万缕的联系。如精神疾病和药物滥用障碍。本文重点关注州和联邦监狱的重大公共卫生危机和进展，并讨论了健康学者、从业者和活动家促进被监禁者的健康和尊严的一系列实用策略。首先总结了导致美国大规模监禁的历史和社会结构因素。然后，它描述了监狱条件如何造成或恶化慢性、传染性和行为健康状况，同时强调了公共卫生研究和干预措施的优先领域，以改善被监禁者的健康，包括可以极大地减少监狱环境的解决方案——也许还有一个天帮助废除——使用监狱。