Objectives: This study developed national estimates of the burden of selected infectious diseases among correctional inmates and releases during 1997.
Methods: Data from surveys, surveillance, and other reports were synthesized to develop these estimates.
Results: During 1997, 20% to 26% of all people living with HIV in the United States, 29% to 43% of all those infected with the hepatitis C virus, and 40% of all those who had tuberculosis disease in that year passed through a correctional facility.
Conclusions: Correctional facilities are critical settings for the efficient delivery of prevention and treatment interventions for infectious diseases. Such interventions stand to benefit not only inmates, their families, and partners, but also the public health of the communities to which inmates return.