[Penitentiary microenvironment as a risk factor of psychosomatic health (digest)].

This analytical survey shows that health status of jail prisoners in Russia as worldwide is strikingly different from that of the general population. The difference is accounted for by the concentration of socially dysadapted individuals in penitentiary institutions, conditions and relations facilitating the spread of certain infections in prisons. This problem is of importance for society at large because most prisoners sooner or later come back to the normal life and influence national health statistics. Moreover, penitentiary institutions constitute an important reserve of national health care systems since prevention and treatment of a large group of diseases among the prisoners facilitate the work of public health facilities serving the general population.