NCJ Number
194277
Journal
The Prison Journal Volume: 82 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2002 Pages: 84-100
Date Published
March 2002
Length
17 pages
Annotation
Several State and city departments of health have received Federal funding to develop and implement or to expand innovative strategies or models of HIV prevention, case management, and discharge planning services for racial/ethnic minority inmates in correctional facilities; this article provides an overview of service models for county jails and emphasizes the need for strategies to improve the health of the inmate and the community to which he/she will return.
Abstract
The article begins with a brief review of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the general U.S. population and among incarcerated persons. The need for continuity of care for inmates making the transition between corrections facilities and the community is also explored. The strategies implemented in four States -- California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York -- are described in detail. Massachusetts' Transitional Intervention Program (TIP) teams illustrate how a social worker and a reintegration specialist, working with HIV corrections counselors, develop and initiate an individualized discharge plan for each inmate and continue to provide follow-up services after an inmate's release. California's Homebase project involves a unique arrangement between corrections authorities and the San Francisco Sheriff's Department that permits participating inmates to be released from jail during normal workweek hours to meet with community-based staff shortly before release to help them with housing and other issues immediately following release. The coalitions of programs that New Jersey has brokered among correctional facilities and community and clinical health-care programs ensures a coordinated network of care for inmates before and after their release. New York's implementation of a transitional and discharge planning model designed by an academic institution enables inmates to develop linkages to community-based services while they are still incarcerated and to continue receiving services following their release. These programs illustrate that collaboration and coordination among correctional facilities, community organizations, and public health departments facilitate the provision of services to incarcerated persons to ensure better access to an effective continuum of HIV services while incarcerated and after re-entry into the community. 19 references