Coercion and Mental Health Care During the Reentry Period

• In Event: Medical Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 16. The State, Legal System, and Healthcare Policy

Abstract

The negative effects of incarceration on mental health have been well documented with psychiatric symptoms for this population found to be about twice as high in comparison to those who do not have a history of incarceration. Formerly incarcerated individuals with mental health needs experience heightened susceptibility to barriers during the period immediately after release and coordination of mental health care has been proposed as a way to connect them to services during the period of reentry. This study aimed to understand how mental health care is coordinated and intertwined with the criminal legal system during this transition. Using qualitative methods, I interviewed providers involved in the coordination of mental health care process and formerly incarcerated individuals with mental health care needs about their experiences providing and receiving these services, respectively. Across interviews, both providers and patients detailed challenges in the coordination of mental health care process. Throughout interviews providers shared strategies they used to engage patients with mental health care needs, particularly those who were required to receive services as a condition of their release. Some of these strategies included coercion, which some providers wrestled with, while others did not see them as coercive or felt that these strategies were necessary to engage patients with mental health needs. However, patients found these strategies to be counterproductive. Formerly incarcerated participants were frustrated with required mental health care services and the type of services they were offered. Many noted that the only reason they engaged with these services was to stay out of prison or jail. Findings from this study demonstrate that punitive measures can continue from the criminal legal system through mental health care during the reentry period, leaving formerly incarcerated individuals with limited agency when engaging with mental health care services.

Author

• Natalie Keller, University of California San Francisco