Prison organizations are not isolated institutions, thus social and economic change in the wider society affects their internal dynamics. The authors explore how health conditions within lower socioeconomic segments of the population influence the health characteristics of prisoner admissions, and demonstrate how health conditions within the wider society have major implications for prisoner health care systems. The effects of recent conservative crime control ideologies on institutional health care programs are also examined. The article concludes with the development of a research agenda on prisoner health care issues.
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