Vulnerable Populations

VULNERABLE POPULATIONS Vulnerable Populations Student’s N VULNERABLE POPULATIONS Vulnerable Populations Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Vulnerable Populations Introduction Statistics show that the largest proportion of US prison population is African American males. Further, African-American male’s incarceration rate is six times that of white males in the US (Tawanda, 2016). However, other healthcare disparities have been identified by various studies, especially regarding health care problems. The purpose of this study is to describes the population of incarcerated African American males, identifies the common health problems facing this group, describes the components of community health programs targeting incarcerated African-American males, funding sources, and the documents required by the nurse caring for this population. Incarcerated African-American Males The US is reported to have the highest prison population than any other developed nation in the world. According to the estimates by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics in 2002, its prison population exceeded 2 million. The same report suggested that the incarceration rate was 1,309 prisoners per 100,000 US men, compared with 113 per 100,000 women (Tawanda, 2016). While considerable racial differences in incarceration rates were noted, this discrepancy has continued to rise over time. Currently, African-American male’s incarceration rate is six times that of white males in the US. Based on a survey conducted in 2014, African-Americans comprised 2.3 million of the total 6.8 million inmates. In addition, the rate of imprisonment of African-Americans women was twice that of white women. Tawanda (2016) suggests that among black men in 11 states, at least 1 out of 20 are in a state prison. Again, the imbalance of marriageable African-American men to women is attributed to high incarceration, homicide, and unemp