Infectious disease in correctional health care: Pursuing a research agenda

A 2-day academic and health policy conference on correctional health was held in March 2007. During this conference, several intensive workshops were conducted with the goal of bringing together correctional health experts, clinicians, and researchers to identify important research areas that require investigation to improve inmate health. This article summarizes the focused discussion on infectious diseases. Results of this workshop suggested that research is needed on testing procedures (HIV and HCV), sexual behavior and risks during incarceration, the use of existing clinical data (secondary analyses), and evaluation of corrections-specific education materials on HIV and HCV. Finally, a forum for correctional health researchers to share study findings and to develop multisite research relationships is urgently needed.