Analyzing Trust in Carceral Healthcare Settings: COVID-19 and Vaccination

Abstract

Since March 2020, there have been over 630,000 cases of COVID-19 in correctional facilities in the United States. During the pandemic, policies set by the Department of Corrections mitigated the effect of COVID-19 among incarcerated populations through decarceration and limiting interaction inside the correctional facility. Correctional facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic were unable to fully shut down due to political and practical challenges, which created inequities among who can and cannot quarantine and isolate in the United States. Dealing with the reality of these challenges, prison policies legitimized suspensions of prison programming, treatment, and family and legal visitation through promises of a facility free of COVID-19 in the future. In addition, incarcerated people were isolated and often sent to solitary confinement if they tested positive for COVID-19. To emphasize the importance of trusted sources of COVID-19 vaccine information among incarcerated populations, I conducted a quantitative analysis and literature review about the criminal justice system’s role in healthcare delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for strengthening trust among incarcerated populations. The University of Minnesota Center for Preventative Research conducted a survey among 1,372 incarcerated people in Minnesota Correctional Facilities. The study was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and aimed to capture the perspectives of incarcerated people regarding COVID-19 vaccination. My results demonstrate that increased trust in correctional healthcare, community healthcare, and peer-support models significantly increases the probability of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, with trust in correctional healthcare having the most significant impact. Women and Native Americans were significantly more likely to report trusting health information from healthcare on the outside, while Non-Hispanic Blacks and Latinos were significantly more likely to report trusting health information from healthcare on the inside. The results of this study are essential to strengthen the correctional healthcare system and guide future pandemic policy and practice.