Utilization of Medical Services by a Captive Population: An Analysis of Sick Call in a State Prison

This paper addresses the problem of the effects of a total institution (Goffman, 1961) environment on the use of medical services. The empirical focus is on a midwestern United States penitentiary for men. Three components of the problem are identified: the difference between the incidence of physician visits as compared with a "free" population, variations in the use of medical services among different groups of inmates, and discussion of possible reasons for differences found. For the first two components, evidence is presented; for reasons that are discussed, however, explanation of differences found remains speculative.