Home      Login

Abstract: 

In 1995, the World Health Organization (WHO) published “Health Promotion in the Prison Setting,” its view of prison health care based on the premise that “efforts to improve prisoner health should not only focus on individuals but also on the environment and organisational infrastructure of the prison itself….” This approach was believed to have the potential to reduce health disparities by helping prisoners adopt healthy behaviors that they would be able to take back into their communities after their release. Since it was introduced, some European countries, including England, Wales, and Scotland, have successfully adopted clear strategies for health promotion in prisons. However, one of the stated indicators of the concept’s effectiveness was an expansion beyond European and this has not occurred. This article reviews an important study published in American Journal of Health Promotion, “Why Has the Health Promoting Prison Concept Failed to Translate to The United States?” by James Woodall, which seeks to explain why “health promotion” has failed to take hold in the U.S. prison system.

Keywords: Health Promotion Interventions

Affiliations:  1: Pace University Law School.