Valley Fever Seminar Series: Clarence Cryer Jr., MPH CCHP

 

Inadequate medical attention and its consequences continue to pose one of the greatest threats to incarcerated populations around the world. In the face of rising health care costs and the added burden of ever-increasing, higher acuity inmate populations amid everyday occurrences, correctional facilities struggle to find ways to balance the weight of these new loads while adhering to strict legal requirements. At times unintended ethical predicaments emerge – sending criminal justice professionals, the health care community and society as a whole on a quest for equitable remedies. To date, the journey continues.  .  .  .The current impact of Valley fever on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is a case in point.

 

Mr. Cryer is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison (SATF) in Corcoran, California, the  largest of the state’s 34 institutions and one of eight (8) located in the Coccidioidomycosis endemic area. His career in correctional health care began as an Administrator at Jackson Health System’s Corrections Health Services Division; overseeing inmate health care in one of the nation’s largest county jail systems; Miami-Dade County Corrections and Rehabilitation (MDCCR). His previous leadership in public and private sector correctional health care systems includes county jails, detention centers and state prisons in Florida and Georgia. His areas of special interests include: performance improvement, national accreditation standards and health care ethics.