Part III: Elements of Effective Health and Social Service Systems
Policy statements and recommendations in preceding sections of the Report are predicated upon the availability of accessible and effective services and supports for people released from prison or jail. Too often, however, these services and supports are neither available nor accessible. For these reasons, policymakers or practitioners planning or implementing a re-entry initiative in their jurisdictions should develop a general understanding of the organization and operation of these systems. Policy statements in Part III provide that information; they also explain how these systems must be transformed to receive people released from prison or jail.
The format of policy statements in Part III is distinct from the format of the preceding policy statements in this report. Each of the Part III policy statements first addresses the target population of a particular system, including its overlap with people released from corrections facilities. This section is followed by a description of key issues that system administrators face, and then an overview of system organization and funding. In each system the way that funds are provided and administered, and the way that services are monitored and delivered, varies widely, and this section orients the non-specialist to the elements that comprise the basic system structure.
Finally, each policy statement includes recommendations. In Part III policy statements these recommendations tend to be more sweeping in scope than those in earlier policy statements. Nevertheless, they are an invaluable resource for policymakers and practitioners who have historically focused on the criminal justice system, and, because of an interest in prisoner re-entry, find themselves determined to make health and social service systems better at assisting people who have criminal records.
Contents
31: Workforce Development Systems
32: Substance Abuse Treatment Systems
33: Mental Health Care Systems