PLOS ONE · 4 authors, 3 centres
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A qualitative study of 12 interviews with formerly incarcerated persons and community providers in Miami-Dade County identified social and structural barriers (housing, employment, food access, Medicaid gaps) and facilitators (social support, trauma-informed care) to health during prison reentry. Respondents called for holistic reentry programs addressing social determinants of health, Medicaid expansion, and more inclusive governmental housing programs.
This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews conducted between June and August 2020 with 12 community stakeholders—5 formerly incarcerated persons and 7 community providers—in Miami-Dade County, FL, as part of a larger reentry asset mapping project. Using the general inductive approach with NVivo software, three themes emerged: social and structural barriers and facilitators to health during reentry, challenges with medical care following release, and long-term impacts of receiving poor healthcare in prison. Participants identified substance use disorder treatment, trauma-informed therapy, and chronic disease management as primary healthcare needs, and cited social support, stable housing, education, and employment as key structural needs. Challenges included difficulty accessing medical records from the Department of Corrections, lack of Medicaid expansion in Florida, and bureaucratic safety-net healthcare. Limitations include a small sample size (partially due to COVID-19 recruitment challenges), single time-point interviews without follow-up, and a narrow geographic focus on Miami-Dade County.
