Our Mission
The NCCHC Foundation's mission is to champion the correctional health care field and serve the public by supporting research, professional education, scholarships, and patient reentry into the community.
About the NCCHC Foundation
For over 40 years, the National Commission on Correctional Health Care has been at the forefront of leading dramatic improvements in patient care in corrections. Now, as the organization’s fundraising and philanthropic arm, the NCCHC Foundation accelerates that work to meet the increasingly complex needs of today’s incarcerated populations.
Support the Future of the Field
Get Inspired by the 2025 NCCHC Spring Conference on Correctional Health Care Scholarship Winners
Get Inspired by the 2025 NCCHC National Conference on Correctional Health Care Scholarship Winners
The future of correctional health care is bright, driven by the NCCHC Foundation’s commitment to building a strong, compassionate workforce through scholarships for early-career professionals and students. With generous support from partners including Centurion Health, CFG Health, Falcon Correctional and Community Services, and Physician Correctional USA, along with dedicated foundation donors, we expand access to education and career pathways for students from historically Black colleges and universities, nursing and medical programs, and colleges and universities nationwide. These scholarships support the next generation of nurses, physicians, mental health professionals, administrators, and leaders who will advance quality, equity, and excellence in correctional health care.
Join Us in Transforming Correctional Health Care
Approximately 1.9–2.0 million people are incarcerated in the United States across federal, state, and local facilities — a number that still places the U.S. among the countries with the highest incarceration counts in the world. People who are incarcerated have significantly higher rates of chronic medical conditions than the general population, including hypertension, diabetes, asthma, infectious diseases, and others that require ongoing treatment and management. Mental health challenges are also widespread in correctional settings. National estimates indicate that about two in five people in jails and prisons have a history of mental health conditions, and significant portions of these individuals do not receive consistent treatment while incarcerated. Correctional health care is public health. More than 95% of people who are incarcerated will eventually return to their communities, and their health needs — often complex and chronic — continue beyond release, affecting families and neighborhoods alike.
These health disparities disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color that already face barriers to accessing quality care. Correctional systems can play an important role in population health by supporting preventive care, continuity of treatment, and community reintegration.
Your gift to the NCCHC Foundation can:
- Support clinical research that identifies best practices and leads to better outcomes in correctional settings
- Mentor the next generation of correctional health professionals and support their continuing education needs
- Gather, analyze, and disseminate data to support high quality correctional health care
- Encourage health care efficacy and efficiency through support for evidence-based medicine
- Provide resources to incarcerated individuals on supporting their own health