Letters from the Big House: Providing Consumer Health Reference for Texas Prisons

ABSTRACT

The Texas Medical Center Library in Houston, Texas, provides consumer health information reference services to inmates in 45 prisons across Texas via the U.S. mail program. The majority of the letters fall within scope of the service, requesting basic drug or disease information which can be answered with resources such as MedlinePlus. However, some letters request information that is out of scope for our consumer health service, such as advanced medical and legal advice. Content analysis of letters reveals interesting inmate information needs related to distrust of the prison health system and suspicions regarding sanitation and food safety.

KEYWORDS:

• Consumer health
• inmates
• prisons