A HARP publication in collaboration with Justice Systems Partners (JSP) with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation as part of the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC)
States across the country are using Medicaid reentry waivers to support individuals returning to their communities after incarceration. People who are healthier are better equipped to secure jobs, find housing, and foster a path towards lasting change and wellbeing.
Today, more than half of all states are for the first time building continuity of care as people return using Medicaid waivers. One of those states is California, whose reentry initiative is among those programs having a real impact on individuals seeking a second chance at life. As of February, 31 state prisons and 33 county jail and youth correctional facilities in California have started providing pre-release services.
Patricia Ceballos is one of the leaders implementing this new initiative in the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office. She is a 20 year veteran of efforts to strengthen reentry in San Diego, and recently discussed her work on the reentry waiver with HARP and Justice System Partners (JSP). She described her work with a range of partners from probation to managed care plans, San Diego’s efforts to incorporate the client perspective, and her advice for other leaders who are building access to health care at reentry. She sees the waiver as “an opportunity to enhance existing efforts. It gave us a chance to look at our population in its entirety in a more structured and robust way, and really start to think about the reentry pathways that needed to exist.”