The Challenge of Behavioral Health Surveillance in Criminal Justice Populations: Issues and Action Steps to Create a Nationally Representative Surveillance System.

Data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics occasional jail inmate and state prisoner surveys reveal that behavioral health issues-mental health and substance use disorders-are consistently the most prevalent health issues among criminal justice-involved (CJ-I) persons. Although these surveys provide a national-level perspective, they do not provide a true public health surveillance approach to determining the prevalence and types of behavioral health issues that burden the populations who pass through the criminal justice process. The fact that there are no "reportable" behavioral health conditions is cited as a factor in the lack of agreement on what constitutes the case definition of behavioral health disorders.

Replicating MISTERS: an epidemiological criminology framework analysis of a program for criminal justice-involved minority males in the community.

The Men in STD Training and Empowerment Research Study (MISTERS) program and epidemiological criminology began their development in Atlanta at about the same time. MISTERS focuses on men recently released from jail to reduce both HIV/STD and crime-related risk factors through a brief educational intervention. This article examines ways in which MISTERS and epidemiological criminology have been used to inform one another in the replication of the MISTERS program in Orange County, Florida.

Jails, public health, and generalizability.

This article outlines and discusses five categories of information about individual jails that should be considered before making general statements about jails. These are (a) the process by which individuals come to and are processed through the jail, (b) the size of the jail, (c) the region of the country where the jail is situated, (d) classification/assessment techniques, and (e) architecture and supervision styles. It is hoped that this discussion will generate a better understanding of the complexity of jail systems across the nation and help public health professionals better target their research, programs, and policies directed at the jail/community health nexus.