ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the juridic status of convicts, taking into account the implications of imprisonment as regards responsibility for the delivery of health care. It looks at circumstances that can impede the delivery of adequate correctional health services. The chapter considers strategies for ameliorating the quality of care. To wonder about social justice is to struggle with assessing the distribution of societal goods and bads. In some cases, the justification for a non-market system involves an appeal to goals that are shared, more or less, by the community as a whole. People may all be more secure if fires are contained as quickly as possible, if property owners do not need to negotiate with the vendors of firefighting services while homes, businesses, and factories go up in flames. While it is relatively easy to discern the warden's ethical situation in the context of prison life, the role-responsibilities of the correctional health care professional are not as easily appreciated.
