Memorandum: Strategic Plan For Managing Offender Health Care Appointments
Boniface Wanjiku
Umgc
Health Services Management CapstoneA
Prof, Liliya Roberts
05/11/2024
Memorandum
To: Administrator
From: Boniface Wanjiku, Case Coordinator
Subject: Strategic Plan for Managing Offender Health Care Appointments
Overview of Estelle v. Gamble and its Implications for Inmate Health Care
In the landmark 1976 Supreme Court case Estelle vs Gamble, the court ruled that failing
to provide adequate medical care to prisoners constitutes a violation of the 8th Amendment. This
is a prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment( U.S const, amend, VIII). This decision
established that correctional facilities are constitutionally required to make sure inmates receive
necessary healthcare. The ruling stated that correctional facilities should have standards that hold
these facilities accountable for addressing inmates' medical needs and preventing undue suffering
(Greifinger, 2022).
Our facility is aimed at ensuring that we maintain this critical obligation of uninterrupted
access to healthcare for inmates. This can be through in-house services or outside providers.
Because this ruling is foundational to inmates healthcare rights, our role is to effectively
coordinate medical appointments, balancing available resources in and outside the facility for the
300 inmates who require medical help.
Examine the challenges of providing health care in a correctional environment.
Safety is the top priority in any correctional environment. This adds complexity to
delivering medical care both on-site and off-site. External appointments require careful
coordination, involving secure transport and staffing, which makes these arrangements resource-
intensive. There is also an issue of limited resources. Budget restrictions and limited staff often
mean correctional healthcare facilities lack specialized medical services, such as advanced life
support or complex surgeries. This challenge necessitates reliance on external providers.
Additionally, the majority of the inmates arrive at the correctional centers with untreated health
issues (Billings et al., 2021). This leads to complex conditions that require intensive
management. These disparities make it challenging to provide prompt, comprehensive care.
Special Health Care Challenges for Female Inmates
Healthcare for female inmates has unique considerations, often distinct from those in
male facilities: one of the care challenges that female inmates face is reproductive health needs.
There are inmates who might be pregnant and may have a history of substance abuse. This will
place them in a high-risk pregnancy category, and this requires specialized and ongoing prenatal
care. Additionally, trauma and mental health issues are another challenge that female inmates
face (Montoya-Barthelemy et al., 2020). Female inmates are often survivors of trauma, which is
frequently connected to mental health challenges. Addressing mental health for this population
requires additional focus and complexity. Female inmates are also often faced with high rates of
chronic illnesses (Montoya-Barthelemy et al., 2020). Infections like hepatitis, and HIV/AIDS,
and conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases are more common among female
inmates. Treating these conditions with the facility becomes a challenge.
What framework would you apply to strategic planning? Why?
The strategic plan that I would use or apply is Balance ScoreCard. This framework
effectively translates high–level strategic goals into actionable goals. Additionally, this strategic
planning framework connects broader organizational objectives to day-to-day activities
(Atlassian,2024). With its clear structure of objectives, measures, initiatives, and action items,
the BSC provides a holistic view that aligns each team’s work with the organization’s
overarching mission.
Using the BSC helps teams break down large, ambitious goals into manageable parts. For
example, if the inmates require health services, we need to set excellent and achievable
goals.The BSC can set clear initiatives and plans to be used when planning the treatment of these
300 inmates. Inmates might also give feedback on the services they receive. This way, every
team member understands not just the “what” but also the “how” behind their contributions to
the strategy, ensuring progress can be tracked and adapted as needed.
References
Atlassian. (2024). 8 strategic planning frameworks to achieve your goals.
https://www.atlassian.com/work-management/strategic-planning/framework
Billings, M. E., Cohen, R. T., Baldwin, C. M., Johnson, D. A., Palen, B. N., Parthasarathy, S., ...
& Sharma, S. (2021). Disparities in sleep health and potential intervention models: a
focused review. Chest, 159(3), 1232-1240.
Greifinger, R. B. (2022). More than 40 Years since Estelle v. Gamble: Looking forward, not
wayward. Public Health Behind Bars: From Prisons to Communities, 1-10.
Montoya-Barthelemy, A. G., Lee, C. D., Cundiff, D. R., & Smith, E. B. (2020). COVID-19 and
the correctional environment: the American prison as a focal point for public health.
American journal of preventive medicine, 58(6), 888.
