In 1976, the US Supreme Court established that incarcerated people have a constitutional right to health care, ratifying lower court decisions. Corresponding professionalization and standardization initiatives included the advent of third-party certifications of individual correctional health care (CHC) practitioners. Drawing on historical evidence about CHC reforms and contemporary data on certifications, incarcerated people’s lawsuits, and incarcerated people’s mortality rates, this study assesses relationships between certifications and key outcomes of incarceration. We find that corrections actors tend to adopt certifications when directly threatened by elevated rates of litigation in their states. This finding suggests that corrections actors are legally reactive, responding to filed lawsuits’ salient threat, rather than legally proactive, attempting to manage risk through anticipatory certification adoption. While early standardization and professionalization interventions reflected the legally proactive logic, our results indicate that contemporary corrections actors tend to “wait and see” about legal liability. Barriers to settlements or court rulings favoring incarcerated people—particularly the Prison Litigation Reform Act—help explain this tendency. Lawsuits’ observed influence on standardization and professionalization offer some support for litigation’s capacity to impel changes; litigation’s failure to predict mortality, however, gives pause regarding this capacity’s extent.

中文翻译：

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法律反应：作为对诉讼的回应的惩教保健认证

1976 年，美国最高法院确立了被监禁的人享有宪法赋予的医疗保健权利，批准了下级法院的裁决。相应的专业化和标准化举措包括对个人惩教保健 (CHC) 从业者的第三方认证的出现。本研究利用关于 CHC 改革的历史证据和关于认证、被监禁人员诉讼和被监禁人员死亡率的当代数据，评估认证与监禁的主要结果之间的关系。我们发现，当受到所在州诉讼率上升的直接威胁时，矫正行为者倾向于采用认证。这一发现表明，矫正行为者在法律上是被动的，对提起诉讼的突出威胁做出反应，而不是在法律上积极主动，试图通过预期的认证采用来管理风险。虽然早期的标准化和专业化干预反映了法律上的主动逻辑，但我们的结果表明，当代矫正行为者倾向于“观望”法律责任。有利于被监禁者的和解或法院裁决的障碍——尤其是《监狱诉讼改革法》——有助于解释这种趋势。诉讼对标准化和专业化的观察影响为诉讼推动变革的能力提供了一些支持；然而，诉讼未能预测死亡率，这使人们对这种能力的范围有所怀疑。我们的研究结果表明，当代矫正行为者倾向于“观望”法律责任。有利于被监禁者的和解或法院裁决的障碍——尤其是《监狱诉讼改革法》——有助于解释这种趋势。诉讼对标准化和专业化的观察影响为诉讼推动变革的能力提供了一些支持；然而，诉讼未能预测死亡率，这使人们对这种能力的范围有所怀疑。我们的研究结果表明，当代矫正行为者倾向于“观望”法律责任。有利于被监禁者的和解或法院裁决的障碍——尤其是《监狱诉讼改革法》——有助于解释这种趋势。诉讼对标准化和专业化的观察影响为诉讼推动变革的能力提供了一些支持；然而，诉讼未能预测死亡率，这使人们对这种能力的范围有所怀疑。