NCCHC News

NCCHC Founders Honored by Institute of Medicine

Bernard P. Harrison, JD, and B. Jaye Anno, PhD, CCHP-A, were awarded the Institute of Medicine’s prestigious Gustav O. Lienhard Award in recognition of their pioneering efforts that have appreciably improved correctional health care on a national scale. The National Commission cofounders received the award Oct. 27, 2003, at the annual meeting of the IOM, which is a component of the National Academies.

Harrison and Anno “are long-standing leaders in efforts to improve health conditions for the underserved segment of our population in correctional facilities,” said Claire M. Fagin, PhD, upon presenting the award. Fagin, who chairs the IOM committee that selects Lienhard Award recipients, is dean emerita of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

Though they may have sowed the seeds of change, both recipients credited the vital support provided by NCCHC’s supporting organizations and countless others in markedly improving the quality of correctional health care in the United States in the past 30 years.

Fagin also noted the impact of the pair’s work on overall public health: “The increasing attention given to the importance of systematically addressing correctional health care concerns —seen in everything from additional course work in schools of public health to the CDC’s inclusion of correctional facilities as a category for reporting the prevalence of certain infectious diseases—owes no small debt to Anno’s and Harrison’s decades of work.”

“In honoring Bernard and me,” said  Anno, “you also have honored the entire correctional health profession by recognizing that it’s an integral part of public health and mainstream medicine.”

Profound Contributions
According to the IOM, Harrison and Anno, both of Santa Fe, NM, are being honored for their profound contributions to improvements in the quality and humanity of medical care systems for the incarcerated. They are responsible for developing the first comprehensive standards for health services in jails, prisons and juvenile detention and confinement facilities, and for initiating the concept of voluntary accreditation as a means for states, counties and the federal government to upgrade health care in correctional facilities.

Their work began in the early 1970s, when they brought to the nation’s attention the tremendous inadequacy of health care for the incarcerated. As vice president of the American Medical Association in 1972, Harrison spearheaded efforts to survey and research the state of health care in jails. He and Anno demonstrated the gravity of inmates’ health problems, the risk that these problems posed to the health of the general public and the inadequacy of care being provided to inmates.

Enlisting the support of key organizations and constituencies, Anno and Harrison worked to increase awareness of the problem and to dramatically improve standards for health services in jails and prisons. As a result of these standards, there was a fourfold increase in the detection of previously undiagnosed and untreated illnesses among inmates. In concurrence with their work, the Supreme Court ruled that states have an obligation to ensure that an individual’s basic needs, including health care, are met.

In 1981 Anno and Harrison founded NCCHC, a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving health care in the nation’s jails, prisons and juvenile facilities. Besides developing standards for health services, NCCHC operates a voluntary accreditation program for correctional facilities that meet its standards and offers customized consultation and technical assistance. It also created a certification program for correctional health professionals, and hosts the premier educational conferences in this field. 

Background Briefs
Harrison received his law degree from DePaul University, Chicago, and practiced law for 10 years before joining the staff of the AMA in 1961. He left the AMA in 1981.

 Anno received a masters degree in criminal justice from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York City, and a PhD in criminology from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is the editor and principal author of the major reference book for the field, Correctional Health Care: Guidelines for the Management of an Adequate Delivery System, and is past editor of the Commission’s Journal of Correctional Health Care. She also co-authored  NCCHC’s study on The Health Status of Soon-to-be-Released Inmates: A Report to Congress, submitted by the National Institute of Justice in 2002.

This year’s IOM ceremony marks the 18th presentation of the Lienhard Award, which includes a medal and a $25,000 prize. Given annually, the award recognizes outstanding national achievement in improving personal health care services in the United States. Nominees are eligible for consideration without regard to education or profession.

The Lienhard Award is funded by an endowment from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Gustav O. Lienhard was chair of the foundation’s board of trustees from the organization’s establishment in 1971 to his retirement in 1986. Lienhard also had been president of Johnson & Johnson.

More information about the Lienhard Award can be found on the Web at www.iom.edu/lienhard.

(Fall 2003)