BY DONNA ROGERS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
of those incarcerated do
not comply with taking their meds due to a plethora of reasons—they could be elsewhere in the facility during delivery, their record may not be updated, they may want to “cheek” them to trade later, or they may simply be uninformed about the reason they need to take them. “Many people we see never had a conversation about their healthcare,” points out Dr. 18 CORRECTIONS FORUM • JULY/AUGUST 2014
Harold Orr of Corizon. “Because of that, they are not well instructed or in tune with what can be an informative healthcare intervention.” In some cases, noncompliance is completely due to the inmate’s failure to follow what is prescribed, in other cases some blame may fall on the corrections agency, say the experts. The National Commission on Correctional Health Care, the
The most successful facilities in terms of medication compliance are those where medical and security are partners in medication delivery, says Martha Ingram, RN, of Wexford.
independent, not-for-profit organization that sets voluntary standards for healthcare including those that cover pharmaceutical operations and medication services, tells CF it has found common areas where compliance is of concern. Most notably, recording keeping of inmate medications is an area where facilities fall short. “Facilities may fail to maintain records to ensure adequate control or accountability for all med-
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