Health and Prisoner Research Report.pdf
Each year, nearly 700,000 men and women are released from prison into communities across the United States but many do not make a successful transition: two-thirds are arrested within three years and one-half are returned to prison, either for parole violations or new crimes. The Urban Institute’s study, Returning Home: Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry, provides an in-depth examination of the reentry process through a series of interviews with a representative sample of 1,100 returning prisoners before and after their release.
This report documents the health challenges facing returning prisoners and describes how individuals with health conditions navigated the first year after release from prison. Taking a comprehensive perspective on “health,” we report on the influence of physical health conditions, mental illness, and substance abuse on the reentry process. We demonstrate, empirically, how returning prisoners with these health conditions faced distinct challenges with regard to finding housing and employment, reconnecting with family members, abstaining from substance use and crime, and avoiding a return to prison.
This report documents the health challenges facing returning prisoners and describes how individuals with health conditions navigated the first year after release from prison. Taking a comprehensive perspective on “health,” we report on the influence of physical health conditions, mental illness, and substance abuse on the reentry process. We demonstrate, empirically, how returning prisoners with these health conditions faced distinct challenges with regard to finding housing and employment, reconnecting with family members, abstaining from substance use and crime, and avoiding a return to prison.