Correctional health and pandemic response has been largely ignored in the general rush to develop plans for pandemic response. The correctional facilities have unique needs that arise from their physical and social circumstances. This meeting, held in St. Louis, was intended to gather the best available information from experts in the fields of corrections and those working with Pandemic Influenza preparedness and response in order to close this gap and develop guidelines for prison and jail preparedness and response. Rachel Schwartz of the Institute for Biosecurity was an invited conference participant, in large part due to her experience in preparing a 2006 study of Pandemic Preparedness for Prisons and Jails for the State of Missouri.
The group's final product will be an online publication to be regularly updated and made available to all interested parties. The meetings which focused both on correctional and community health (in particular with regard to released and paroled inmates), were facilitated by the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) and Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA) and included experts from around the country.
|
