Journal Article

Coming Home From Jail: The Social and Health Consequences of Community Reentry for Women, Male Adolescents, and Their Families and Communities

Perkins, Tiffany, Freudenberg, Nicholas, Daniels, Jessie, Richie, Beth E, Crum, Martha

2005

Overview

Each year, more than 10 million people enter US jails, most returning home within a few weeks. Because jails concentrate people with infectious and chronic diseases, substance abuse, and mental health problems, and reentry policies often exacerbate these problems, the experiences of people leaving jail may contribute to health inequities in the low-income communities to which they return. Our study of the experiences in the year after release of 491 adolescent males and 476 adult women returning home from New York City jails shows that both populations have low employment rates and incomes and high rearrest rates. Few received services in jail. However, overall drug use and illegal activity declined significantly in the year after release. Postrelease employment and health insurance were associated with lower rearrest rates and drug use. Public policies on employment, drug treatment, housing, and health care often blocked successful reentry into society from jail, suggesting the need for new policies that support successful reentry into society.

• Publisher: Am Public Health Assoc,American Public Health Association,American Journal of Public Health 2005
• Subject: Adaptation, Psychological / Adolescent / Adolescent boys / Adolescents / Adult / Adults / Age Factors / Attitude to Health / Biological and medical sciences / Chronic illnesses / Communicable Diseases - epidemiology / Community / Criminal sentences / Criminality / Deinstitutionalization - organization & administration / Drug abuse / Drug use / Drugs / Employment / Employment - statistics & numerical data / Family - psychology / Female / Follow-Up Studies / Health care industry / Health disparities / Health insurance / Health problems / Health Status / Hispanic Americans / HIV / Housing / Housing - statistics & numerical data / Housing authorities / Human immunodeficiency virus / Humans / Imprisonment / Inequality / Infections / Intervention / Jails / Juvenile Delinquency - psychology / Juvenile Delinquency - statistics & numerical data / Low income areas / Low income groups / Male / Males / Medical sciences / Mental disorders / Mental Disorders - epidemiology / Mental Disorders - prevention & control / Mental health / Mental health care / Mental health services / Miscellaneous / New York City - epidemiology / Population / Prisoners / Prisoners - psychology / Prisoners - statistics & numerical data / Prisons / Public health / Public Health Matters / Public health. Hygiene / Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine / Public policy / Recidivism / Reentry / Rehabilitation of criminals / Research methodology / Returning home / Sex Factors / Social conditions & trends / Social Problems - psychology / Social Problems - statistics & numerical data / Substance abuse / Substance abuse treatment / Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology / Substance-Related Disorders - prevention & control / Surveys and Questionnaires / Teenagers / Women / Women's Health / Womens health