Women prisoners: health issues and nursing implications

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe health issues of women prisoners, analyze the implications of these issues for nursing practice, and consider strategies to improve the health of this vulnerable population. The article focuses primarily on women prisoners in the United States and includes a brief contextual background to explain the rapid increase in their numbers. Although the incarceration of women is increasingly a global problem, the authors focus primarily on the situation in the United States.