Service Brokerage for Improving Health Outcomes and Reducing Offending in Ex-Prisoners: A Systematic Review

• In Event: Evidence-Based Crime Policy III

Abstract

Internationally, people released from prison and jail often experience poor health, social, and criminal justice outcomes. Under-utilization of health and social services post-release contributes to these poor outcomes and accordingly, re-entry programs often attempt to facilitate engagement with these services (‘service brokerage’). However, few such programs have been subjected to rigorous evaluation and results have not always been favorable. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of interventions including a service brokerage component for people transitioning out of prison or jail, on health and offending outcomes post-release. We systematically reviewed the peer-reviewed and grey literature with no restrictions on study place or date. We included RCTs, cluster RCTs and quasi-RCTs, controlled before-and-after studies and interrupted time series studies. Outcomes included health and social service utilization, substance use, health-related quality of life, physical and mental health, health risk behaviors and recidivism. We searched 24 databases and identified 20,256 potentially eligible documents; however, most were excluded during screening. This presentation will summarize the findings of the review, with a particular emphasis on the nexus between health and offending outcomes in ex-prisoners. It will conclude with recommendations for re-entry programming and for future evaluation research.

Authors

• Stuart A. Kinner, University of Melbourne

• Charlotte Gill, George Mason University

• Kathryn Snow, University of Melbourne

• Kate van Dooren, University of Queensland