Sexism and Medical Care in a Jail Setting

Abstract

As pan of a study on health conditions in women's prisons, compari- sons were made of outcomes of clinic visits by male and female prisoners in New York City jails on Rikers' Island. Despite a basic similarity in health problems, significant differences were found between the sexes in t e n s of number of clinicians with whom they had interaction, access to a physician, and access to treatment of any sort. Men were four times as likely to be seen by a physician and lwice as likely to receive treatment. A general pattern of sex bias was determined to exist. Staffing patterns, clinic access and diagnostic bias are examined as possible explanations for the dif- ferences in care.