Involuntary civil commitment statutes codify the process of involuntary admission to a health care facility. Many statutes assign law enforcement to preside over custody and transportation during the commitment process, which can be traumatizing to people taken into custody. States and localities are seeking to develop alternative crisis response approaches that reduce law enforcement involvement. […]
Focus Area: Behavioral Health Needs
Primary care need and engagement by people with criminal legal involvement: Descriptive and associational analysis using retrospective data on the entire population ever detained in one southeastern U.S. county jail 2014–2020
More than 7 million people are released each year from U.S. jails or prisons, many with chronic diseases that would benefit from primary care in their returning communities. This study analyzed primary care need and utilization by all individuals ever detained in one county detention facility over a 7-year period. The authors found that having […]
Changing the Route: Seeking Compassionate Alternatives to Police Transport in Involuntary Civil Commitment
For too many people experiencing acute mental illness, cries for help bring police and handcuffs rather than compassionate medical intervention. But this doesn’t have to be the case. This report examines the laws across the U.S. related to law enforcement custody and transportation under involuntary civil commitment, when alternative transport is permitted, and opportunities to […]
Dementia and the Aging Prison Population: Best Practices for Care and Release
Dementia and the Aging Prison Population: Best Practices for Care and Release The number of incarcerated seniors has tripled in the last 20 years, and that number is only expected to grow. By 2030, U.S. prisons will incarcerate 400,000 seniors – 1/3 of the total prison population. Estimates vary but more than half of incarcerated seniors may develop dementia […]
Finding Home: Removing Barriers to Housing for Formerly Incarcerated Individuals
The rate of homelessness among formerly incarcerated individuals is ten times higher than that of the general population. Thus, addressing the housing needs of this population is crucial for improving housing access and stability overall. This policy brief outlines the relationship between housing and the criminal legal system and sets forth recommendations to improve housing […]
Reliance on Community Emergency Departments by People Ever Detained in Jail: Retrospective Cross-Sectional Study
This study investigated Emergency Department (ED) use by people incarcerated in jails. The authors found that frequent ED use was associated with more frequent jail bookings and with co-occurring serious mental illness and substance use disorder. By: Michele M Easter, Nicole L Schramm-Sapyta, Maria A Tackett, Isabella G Larsen, Becky Tang, Matthew A Ralph, Luong […]
Ensuring Access to Medicaid During and After Incarceration: Key Policy Considerations in the Wake of Medicaid Expansion in North Carolina
Titled Ensuring Access to Medicaid During and After Incarceration, this brief focuses on key policy considerations in the wake of medicaid expansion in North Carolina. This includes how justice-involved individuals disproportionately face barriers accessing healthcare and what access to Medicaid looks likes for said individuals. A Wilson Center Policy Brief (May 2023) Read the brief
North Carolina Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD): Considerations for Optimizing Eligibility and Referral
This study used mixed-methods data collection and both quantitative and qualitative analyses to evaluate policy, program and practice implications in NC LEAD programs. By Allison R. Gilbert, Reah Siegel, Michele M. Easter, Meret S. Hofer, Josie Caves Sivaraman, Deniz Ariturk, Jeffrey W. Swanson, Marvin S. Swartz, Ruth Wygle & Grace Feng — Law and Contemporary Problems (2023) […]
Policing and Behavioral Health Conditions
This editorial essay, focused on policing and behavioral health conditions, opens the special issue of Law and Contemporary Problems guest edited by Jeffrey Swanson, Marvin Swartz and Brandon Garrett (2023). Read the article
Jail Health and Early Release Practices
This article describes insights from qualitative interviews with jail medical staff in four states, to explore what challenges face delivery of healthcare, but more specifically, when health-based needs require counsel releasing individuals from jail. It describes widespread informal and unwritten mechanisms for health-based releases from jails and how such practices have implications for reforming the […]