By Jackie Roman
nj.com
A nonprofit health clinic in South Jersey has been awarded a $1 million federal grant to provide medical services — including for chronic conditions, mental health, and substance use disorders — to incarcerated people preparing to return home.
The funding for CAMcare Health Corporation, which has seven locations throughout Camden and Gloucester counties, was announced Monday by the Health Resources and Services Administration, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The services will be provided to incarcerated individuals who are scheduled for release within 90 days, according to the announcement.
Federal officials said the funding will help health centers implement “innovative approaches to support” for people leaving prison and help address health risks before release. Studies have shown people with a history of incarceration are in worse mental and physical health than the general population.
“People reentering the community from incarceration are particularly vulnerable to poor health outcomes and mortality,” said Carole Johnson, administrator for the Health Resources and Services Administration, in a statement.
“We can change that if care and services are more closely connected to the reentry experience, which is why we are working to clarify that Health Resources and Services Administration -funded health centers can provide pre-release services and why we are investing in health centers engaging with individuals prior to their release to better support their successful and healthy reentry to the community,” Johnson said.
CAMcare officials did not respond immediately this week to requests for comment.
According to a press release, CAMcare will use its grant award to focus on managing chronic conditions, reducing the risk of drug overdose, addressing mental health and substance use disorder treatment needs, and preventing, screening, diagnosing, and treating infectious diseases.
Nationally, about 80% of individuals released from prison each year have a chronic medical, substance use, or psychiatric condition, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting people and families dealing with mental illness.
People who are incarcerated are also more likely to have high blood pressure, asthma, cancer, arthritis, and infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, hepatitis C, and HIV, according to the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.
Given the large number of people who are incarcerated each year, this is not a minority issue. Between 1980 and 2014, the U.S. incarceration rate increased by 220%, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Today, the incarcerated population is 15 times larger than in 1980, with approximately 5 million people behind bars, including individuals in federal and state prisons as well as local jails, according to federal data.
As of Jan. 1, there were 1,397 people incarcerated in correctional institutions in Camden County, accounting for 11% of total incarcerated persons, according to the New Jersey Department of Corrections. Two counties, Essex and Camden, comprise 26% of total prison commitments in the state.
Gloucester County, which has been sharing jail services with Salem for over a decade following the closure of its correctional facility in 2013, reported 299 incarcerated persons.
CAMcare must also provide case management services to incarcerated persons and work with community partners to address health-related social needs, such as housing and food insecurity, financial strain, transportation barriers, and intimate partner violence, according to Monday’s announcement.
The funding for CAMcare is part of nearly $52 million in total awards for 54 federally-funded health centers nationwide to increase access to high-quality primary care for people soon to be released from incarceration and reentering the community.
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