People recently released from jails and prisons experience much higher rates of emergency department use, overdose, and death than the general population. Effective links to physical and behavioral health care services are critical for improving reentry and health outcomes. Recent federal policy changes have created new opportunities for corrections agencies to partner with Medicaid/CHIP, criminal justice stakeholders, and community partners to design and implement coordinated reentry best practices, connecting people with health coverage and care services before release.

In response, The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center and the Center for Health Care Strategies collaborated to convene a six-month Medicaid and Corrections Policy Academy on behalf of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, a component of the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs.

The Policy Academy brought together cross-agency teams from six states — Alaska, Colorado, Maine, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin — to develop multi-sector approaches that leverage Medicaid’s potential to improve health coverage, care, and reentry outcomes for people involved in the justice system with complex needs.

Over six months, state teams — including senior leaders across state Medicaid, corrections, and behavioral health agencies — worked together to develop a shared vision for serving people who are reentering, including through building an understanding of state systems, effective enrollment and suspension strategies for people leaving prisons or jails, coordination of medical and behavioral health care in corrections, reentry planning including housing and health-related social needs, and data and information sharing, among other strategies.

Resources produced through the policy academy to support other states nationwide are available below.