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Thousands of ill or disabled inmates are incarcerated in Federal, State, and local correctional facilities across the United States. The challenge of helping them obtain medical treatment and services after they are released is not a new one, but a recently released report looks at three programs that are assisting inmates in applying for such benefits.
Helping Inmates Obtain Federal Disability Benefits: Serious Medical and Mental Illness, Incarceration, and Federal Disability Entitlement Programs—cosponsored by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention—reveals that many experts believe that continuing treatment after inmates are released results in a more successful return to society and could prevent the spread of tuberculosis, hepatitis C, HIV/AIDS, and drug-resistant strains of viruses, thus minimizing the cost to community and corrections health care systems. It also could reduce crime—and hence recidivism—by releasees who continue to receive the medical and mental health treatment they need.
Federal disability benefits—Medicaid, Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Supplemental Security Insurance (SSI), and veterans’ compensation funds—offer one solution. Unfortunately, as many officials know, the process of applying for Federal benefits is often complex, and incarceration makes it difficult for inmates to collect their medical information. Three programs investigated in the NIJ study demonstrate, however, that assisting severely ill inmates with applying for these benefits before they leave prison may dramatically increase their chances of receiving benefits postrelease and ease their transition back into the community....
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