· Standards for Health Services in Prisons
· Standards for Health Services in Jails

Guide to the New Editions
NCCHC is finalizing the latest editions of the Standards for Health Services for adult facilities. These benchmark standards represent NCCHC’s recommended minimum requirements for health services in jails and prisons of all sizes and types, in keeping with constitutional requirements.

The Standards originated in the American Medical Association’s initiative in the 1970s to improve health services in jails. The jails version debuted in 1977; this is its eighth revision. The first version for prisons was published in 1979; this is its sixth revision. Since it was incorporated in 1983, NCCHC has been the guardian of this rich legacy of practice to promote quality health care in corrections, now widely recognized as an important component of public health.

Read this article for background information and a summary of the major changes.

For an overview of the revisions, see the PDF files below.

NCCHC Standards: What's New — Slide presentation by NCCHC's Judy Stanley and Scott Chavez at the 2007 National Conference on Correctional Health Care. Includes discussion of the new Standards for Mental Health Services in Correctional Facilities. (18 pages)

Executive Summary of Changes — Bullet-point summary of global changes (section names, format, number of standards) and a list of standard-specific changes (new, deleted, significant change in concept and content, etc.). (2 pages)

Summary Guide to the Revisions — List of each standard, summarizing changes (if any) between the 2003 edition and the 2008 update, including differences between the jail and prison versions where applicable. (10 pages)

Transitioning to the 2008 Standards — Guidelines and time frames for the transition from compliance with the 2003 edition to the 2008 update. (1 page)