An exploration of the needs of community-based reentry clinics: Data from the Transitions Clinic Network

One in every 100 adults or 2.3 million people in the United States are incarcerated; the highest incarceration rate in the world. In the last 20 years, States' corrections costs have risen by 315 percent to $44 billion annually, constituting the fastest expanding area of government spending after Medicaid. The majority of prisoners will be released to the community. Annually, over 700,000 prisoners are released and pressure is mounting to release more due to prison overcrowding, growing correctional health expenditures, and constrained legislative budgets. Therefore, communities are increasingly tasked with providing care to returning prisoners, a medically complex population with high rates of mental illness, substance abuse and chronic diseases. The Transitions Clinic Network (TCN) was established in 2010 to aid communities who care for this vulnerable population. The TCN is a national network of 16 pioneer, community-based programs dedicated to providing primary care services to recently-released prisoners. The TCN provides consultation, education, training and evaluation support to these programs. The TCN focuses on cultural competency trainings for healthcare providers and community health workers, strategies in program design, implementation, data collection, and evaluative and community-based participatory research methods. To better understand the programs and their needs, we created a needs assessment survey and conducted semi-structured interviews of program leaders. We learned about the successes and challenges programs face when serving this population. These results provide insight into the feasibility and resources needed for economically challenged communities challenged with caring for this complex, vulnerable population.