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Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
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Blog
This blog discusses incarceration as a structural determinant of individual health that also worsens population health and the need to understand the reach of mass incarceration through better measurement. The authors provide recommendations as how to improve data reporting on carceral populations.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
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Peer Review Study
This is a rapid review of peer-reviewed and grey literature summarizing guidance for the prevention and control of COVID-19 in custodial settings in the first six months of 2020. The review summarizes global recommendations across 19 domains including: preparedness; physical environments; case identification, screening, and management; communication; external access and visitation; psychological and emotional support; recreation, legal, and health service adaptation; decarceration; release and community reintegration; workforce logistics; surveillance and information sharing; independent monitoring; compensatory measures; lifting control measures; evaluation; and key populations/ settings. The authors also identify a few conflicting recommendations.
Best Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes when implemented in multiple real-life settings, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities.
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Case Study
The CO-SHARE (Co-Design of Services for Health and Reentry) study aimed to identify the health and reentry needs of those recently released from jail with specific input from those released from jail and service providers serving this population. The focus areas were: the prerelease process, one-stop service hubs, housing, and long-term support. Detailed recommendations were given, but the study primarily assesses the effectiveness of the EBCD (Experience-Based Co-Design) method in connecting community members and providers to create solutions.
Best Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes when implemented in multiple real-life settings, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities.
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Systematic Review/Meta-Analysis
This article summarizes the factors that place incarcerated people at high risk for COVID-19 infection and the effective strategies to reduce transmission and complications due to COVID-19, informed by other infectious disease outbreaks. The authors highlight the role of interagency collaboration, health communication, screening for contagious diseases, restriction, isolation and quarantine, contact tracing, immunisation programmes, epidemiological surveillance, and prison-specific guidelines in managing any outbreaks.
Best Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes when implemented in multiple real-life settings, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This study compares the effectiveness of 3 interventions implemented in a correctional facility to determine best practices for limiting the spread of COVID-19 to a vulnerable population. The 3 interventions include depopulation, increased single celling, and widespread testing of asymptomatic incarcerated individuals. Results were compared against a computer model designed to predict cases based on CDC guidelines only. Results indicated a possible 83% reduction in predicted symptomatic cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.
Promising Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities, and are suitable for adaptation by other communities.
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Evaluation Report
This evaluation report described the Pima County Housing First Initiative pilot phase, which provided permanent supportive housing and case management to justice-involved individuals experiencing homelessness in Pima County, Arizona. Justice-related service utilization and health care costs declined for program participants enrolled in the program for 12 months or more, offsetting the program costs. However, additional analysis is needed to determine whether there is a causal relationship between program enrollment and reduction in service utilization.
Promising Practices that show evidence of effectiveness in improving public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting, as indicated by achievement of aims consistent with the objectives of the activities, and are suitable for adaptation by other communities.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This report examines decarceration as a public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. People in correctional facilities are more susceptible to COVID-19 for a wide variety of reasons, including overcrowding and higher rates of pre-existing conditions. Public health agencies can advocate for these decarceration policies or participate directly in discharge planning or health care provision to these vulnerable populations.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
This study examines the impact that COVID-19 has on incarcerated populations by analyzing systematic data on testing, test positivity, cases, and case fatality. Using data from the COVID Prison Project, the study presents data from 53 prison systems and compares these data with each state’s general population. Many states were not reporting full information on COVID-19 testing with some also not reporting on case fatality. Among those reporting data, there was wide variation between testing, test positivity, and case rates within prison systems and as compared to the general population. However, when more tests were deployed, more cases were identified, with the majority of state prisons having higher case rates than their general population.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
The authors investigated data sources to determine whether short-term jailing of individuals prior to release may drive COVID-19 spread.
Emerging Practices that show potential to achieve desirable public health outcomes in a specific real-life setting and produce early results that are consistent with the objectives of the activities and thus indicate effectiveness.
RELEASE DATE:
Peer Review Study
Using jail population data, county-level aggregate data, and policy intervention data, this study examines the association of jail decarceration and anticontagion policies with COVID-19 rates. This study adds a unique contribution to the discussion of incarceration and disease spreading, as it is the first to examine the effects of decarceration on population-level community health outcomes. The authors compare anticontagion policies within jails throughout the United States to other community policy interventions such as stay-at-home orders, nursing home visitation bans, school closures, and mask mandates. Additionally, the study analyzes four demographic subsets including income, population density, and median proportion of populations identifying as Black. The results showed that an 80% reduction in jail incarcerations would decrease disease spreading in both the prison system and the community, and was more effective than any other community policy intervention.