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Reentry and Health Care “Mr. T.P. suffers from schizophrenia for which he was diagnosed at an early age. On August 15, 2000, Mr. T.P. was released from the D.C. Jail after being granted parole. His mother had been aware of his impending release date and was in regular communication with his case manager at the D.C. Jail. On the day before his pending release, the case manager assured his mother that he would be released on the morning of August 15, 2000. Having heard the horrible stories of prisoners being released in the middle of the night, the mother repeatedly asked for assurance that T.P. would be released the next morning when she could pick him up. The case manager again assured her that she could pick him up the next morning. However, when the case manager ended her workday, personnel in the records office noticed his release date and began the process of releasing Mr. T.P. Despite all assurances to his mother, the jail released T.P. at 1:00 a.m., and no one bothered to notify his family of his release. He was given $2.50 for carfare, but did not know where to go. He wandered through the streets of D.C. in his prison jumpsuit until he came to a neighborhood that was familiar to him. He was found by his mother’s in-laws. He was sitting on the porch two doors down from where these relatives lived. The relatives called his mother and notified her that he was there. They gave him a pair of jeans, a tee shirt and took him home. It is truly a mystery how he was able to recall the neighborhood of his relatives when this was his first release after serving nineteen years in prison. Though he had been on psychotropic medication throughout his entire incarceration he was also released without any supply of medication. T.P.’s mother and father called D.C. Superior Court, the Office of Parole Supervision, and worked hard to stabilize T.P. and to place him in the Spring Road Mental Health Clinic where he reported daily while living at home. Due to the collaborative efforts of his parole officer, psychiatrist, and caseworker , T.P. was successfully in the community for nearly a year until 5 88 he was arrested by the U.S. Marshal Service for violating the conditions of his parole. He allegedly submitted one urine sample that tested positive for marijuana. Both of his parents, his caseworker and a psychiatrist attended and testified at his parole revocation hearing. His psychiatrist testified that he was working with T.P. teaching him to be more assertive . T.P. expressed his concern that the neighborhood in which he had to walk after leaving the Spring Road Clinic everyday to go home was a drug infested area and the guys would often ask him to participate in smoking marijuana. The hearing examiner revoked his parole, but, convinced that further incarceration was not necessary, scheduled a release date of November 2, 2001. This, however, is not the end of the story. The U.S. Parole Commission has recently determined that T.P. could not be released because his case manager had submitted insufficient release planning information. Mr. T.P. remains housed at the D.C. Jail.”1 People enter prison with a variety of health problems, and, once they are housed in prison settings, a disturbingly high percentage of individuals contract an illness or develop ongoing health problems. The law mandates a duty of care to ensure that inmates receive treatment while in custody. But that care is eliminated virtually immediately upon release from custody. Most of the health problems, identified in prison and often prior to incarceration, are severe and, if left untreated, can obviously lead to more serious health issues. But these pervasive health issues present an often unrecognized problem: they pose substantial hurdles to reentry. Recently released individuals with acute physical and mental health needs find it difficult to obtain housing, to find and maintain employment, and to live crime-free lives. Generally, people in need of health services are left on their own to patch together services that might help address their particular health problem. However, the challenge for recently released individuals becomes all the more difficult as they attempt to locate comprehensive health services in low-income communities that are already experiencing...

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