Making Correctional Health Care Education Integral to Health Care Training

A growing body of literature links incarceration to negative health outcomes for individuals, families, and communities, yet health care learners often have little structured training in this area. In the last several years, many health care training programs have incorporated or expanded equity-focused curricula for their learners but have not consistently provided training on the impact of incarceration. Given the disproportionate rates at which Black, Indigenous, and Latinx individuals are brought into the correctional system, the authors argue that a curriculum on incarceration is an integral part of health care training. In this commentary, the authors summarize the history of structural racism within the correctional system; discuss the impact of incarceration on individual, family, and community health; and suggest methods to expand didactic curricula and direct clinical experiences within carceral and post-release settings.