Prisoners are often disregarded and disremembered. Society at large tends to find solace in the idea that 'honest individuals' are protected by enclosing criminals behind barbed wire. What is often not taken into account is the fact that prisoners are also human and that the conditions which they face inside correctional institutions should, at the very least, be healthy.

Unfortunately, prisons, due to their correctional nature and monetary constraints, are often unwilling to take appropriate action to safeguard the health of their population. To address this issue, I am working at an all women's correctional institution in New England, analyzing the risks of tubercular transmission. Tuberculosis (TB) is transferred from an infected individual to a susceptible individual through the air. It is contagious and especially likely to spread in enclosed crowded conditions. TB can be considered an environmental disease in prison because inmates are constrained by a closed environment. The incarcerated population at the women's prison is characterized by a large percentage of inmates who, when outside of prison, are drug users, homeless, and HIV seropositive. These groups are at an elevated risk for being infected with and developing TB disease. To make matters worse, the inadequate ventilation at the prison increases the risk of TB transmission. Studies have shown that an inmate has a fourfold increased risk of developing TB disease compared to an average American. My goal in conducting this thesis is to assess the risk which is present at the prison and to consider a cost-effective solution for reducing possible transmission. I will conduct a cost-benefit analysis for the implementation of environmental controls used to limit the transmission of TB. The costs of not taking any action to safe-guard the prison include: costs of medicating diseased individuals and legal costs in the case of a court Marshall. The costs of installation of environmental controls include the costs of: machinery, installation, and maintenance. I will make recommendations to the prison as to what should be done for them to limit transmission of TB at the lowest cost possible.