title: Health status of the prisoners in a central jail of South India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Health care in prisons is one of the neglected health areas in our country. Looking into the health problems of prisons will show us a way for the approach in providing the heath care for prisoners.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the health status of convicted inmates of prison and to study their sociodemographic profile.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted among the inmates of central prison over a period of 1 year. Study population comprised of 300 convicted life-term prisoners. The inmates were interviewed using predesigned and pretested proforma. Sociodemographic data were analyzed by frequencies and percentages along with 95% confidence interval using statistical package SPSS18.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In health status, 29 (9.6%) inmates suffered from acute upper respiratory tract infections and 15 (5%) from acute lower respiratory tract infections. A total of 54 (18%) inmates had ascariasis. Diseases of musculoskeletal system and connective tissue contributed to 26 (8.7%) of inmates. A total of 252 (84%) prisoners had anemia. In sociodemographic profile, it was found that rural people, unmarried, illiterates, lower socioeconomic status people were more likely to have committed the crime resulting in the conviction for life.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  As there is an increase in number of prisoners and morbidities among them, there is an urgent need for prison health care services in developing countries like India and provide training to the health care providers to manage the commonly existing health problems among prisoners in the prisons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Jagadguru Shri Shivarathrishwara Medical College, Mysore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Sunil D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Shimoga Institute of Medical Sciences, Shimoga, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Santosh A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College, Gulbarga, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Jayashree V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Pattankar
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College, Gulbarga, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Shrinivas B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Reddy
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Manipal University, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Murali
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dhar
keywords: Health status; jail; prisoners; prisons