2003 Standards for Health Services in Prisons
2003 Standards for Health Services in Jails
2004 Standards for Health Services in Juvenile Detention and Confinement Facilities

Introduction
The correctional health care field is making the transition to the latest revisions of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care’s Standards for Health Services. These benchmark standards represent NCCHC’s recommended minimum requirements for health services in jail, prison and juvenile facilities of all sizes and complexities, in keeping with their constitutional requirements.

The Standards for Health Services have their roots in the 1970s work of the American Medical Association’s initiative to improve health services in the country’s jails. The jails version of the Standards debuted in 1977; this is its seventh revision. The original versions pertaining to prisons and to juvenile facilities were published in 1979. These are, respectively, the fifth and sixth revisions of the prison and juvenile standards. Since its incorporation in 1983, NCCHC has remained the guardian of this rich legacy of practice to promote quality health care in corrections, now acknowledged by health experts as an important component of public health.

Always concerned with the outcome of policies and practices, and tied to a dynamic revision process, the latest versions more explicitly document the “why” of each standard’s requirements to define expected results when health services are in compliance.

For an overview of the revisions, see the links below.

General Changes in Format
Summary Guide to the Revisions:
· Prison Standards
· Jail Standards
· Juvenile Standards