SJC Exchange Library

The Prison Policy Initiative released a short report that provides the most recent (and most skimmable) national estimates of the health needs of people on probation and parole.

They found that people on supervision are disproportionately likely to suffer from several chronic conditions. They also found that many people under supervision are not receiving medical care, undermining the notion of probation and parole as programs with the best interests of supervisees at heart:

• 1 in 5 people on community supervision has a mental disorder - twice the rate of the general population - but nearly one-third of people on probation and parole with a mental health disorder are not getting treatment.

• 3 in 10 people on supervision have substance use disorders, four times the rate of the general population. But over two-thirds of people on probation and parole with SUD report that they need treatment and aren't getting it.
• Only about one-third of people on supervision with opioid use disorder report receiving medication assisted treatment (MAT), the "gold standard" of care for these types of disorders.
  

Other key findings in our report show that individuals on probation and parole disproportionately lack health insurance, are mostly low-income, and are (in the case of women) likely to be supporting children while keeping up with the demands of supervision.

Prior research shows that people on probation and parole have high mortality rates. And it's no wonder: Probation and parole systems are allowing people to go without critical services that could help stabilize their lives, and that could even - in the case of substance use treatment, for example - help them avoid further prison time.