People returning to communities after incarceration face significant health challenges, including high rates of mental illness and substance use disorders (SUD). An estimated 37 percent of incarcerated people have a mental illness and 63 percent have an active SUD. Further, individuals leaving correctional facilities face a significantly elevated risk of opioid overdose. This population encounters substantial barriers to accessing health care services and faces difficulty meeting health-related social needs (HRSN), such as housing, healthy food, and employment.

The reentry period, leading up to and immediately following release from incarceration, is a critical window to facilitate access to care and stability that promotes good health. Improved access to care and services during reentry is also correlated with a lower risk of reincarceration.

Health care organizations and correctional facilities are increasingly partnering to address behavioral health outcomes during reentry through evidence-based interventions, both within correctional settings and in the community following release. These interventions include medications for addiction treatment (MAT), case management, referrals to services to address HRSN, and peer support.

Behavioral health care providers, correctional facilities, policymakers, health plans, and community-based organizations can use this Evidence-to-Action Collection to understand evidence-based strategies to better address the behavioral health needs of people during reentry and learn about promising implementation strategies.

Explore the Collection to learn about:

Evidence

Case Examples

Implementation Tools

Policy Considerations