Engaging Former Prisoners in Health Care to Improve Reentry

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

This panel discusses insights from three studies that examine the role of healthcare in facilitating successful reintegration outcomes after incarceration. The first study focuses on individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders, describing the high prevalence of co-occurring disorders among individuals returning from incarceration and analyzing effects on reentry outcomes and connection to health services. While health insurance coverage is often presumed to be one of the most critical factors in whether or not people access care, the second study reevaluates the standalone importance of insurance coverage through a series of semi-structured interviews with men returning from jail, aiming to explore the full range of factors, perceptions and barriers that influence participants’ likelihood to seek and engage with needed health services. The third study presents preliminary results from a series of interviews and focus groups with staff and residents of Connecticut halfway houses, focused specifically on how staff and residents perceive changes in care as they transition from corrections-provided to community-based care.

Sub Unit

• Area VII: Criminal Justice Policy and Practice / 42: Healthcare and Prisons

Individual Presentations

• Reentry and Health-Related Challenges Facing Offenders with Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders - Nicholas Bakken, University of Wisconsin - La Crosse; Christy A. Visher, University of Delaware

• Understanding Barriers to Community-Based Health Care After Jail Release - Kamala Mallik-Kane, Urban Institute; Ellen M. Paddock, Urban Institute; Jesse Jannetta, Urban Institute

• Understanding How Halfway House Residents Perceive and Access Healthcare During the Transition from Prison to the Community - Ellen M. Paddock, Urban Institute; Kamala Mallik-Kane, Urban Institute; Emily Tiry, Urban Institute

Chair

• Kamala Mallik-Kane, Urban Institute

Discussant

• Jeff Mellow, John Jay College of Criminal Justice