‘Health' Underpinnings of Re-Entry and Social Embeddedness

Incarceration is a major force defining American society. Currently, the U.S. leads the globe in imprisoning the most individuals annually, roughly 700 per 100,000 persons. In his most recent book, Prisons of Poverty , Loïc Wacquant notes that the American incarceration rate has nearly quadrupled since the 1970s, shifting from 176 to over 700 per 100,000 U.S. citizens. This dramatic rise over the last half of the 20th century speaks to an era of mass incarceration in America. However, until recently, there was not a great deal of focus placed on issues of reintegration. As Jeremy Travis asserts, the notion of "re-entry" only emerged at the turn of the 21st century. This re-entry process is a type of return migration and rests upon a person being able to socially re-embed themselves into their- family, home, community, work place, education, and health. Through analysis of academic literature on (incarceration, prison health, reentry, and policies), and primary sources (books, policy briefs, governmental briefings), I position 'health' as a socio-political asset for reentry. The research provides a way to utilize migration theoretical framework of 'social embeddedness' for prison re-entry issues and brings together diverse facets of the prison health, migration, and public health realms. The research explores the public health dimensions of incarceration and reentry and aims to mitigate a pathway where 'health' is seen as an important asset for aiding social embeddedness.