Six-month post-release outcomes for inmates with traumatic brain injury in supported community programming

ABSTRACT

Objective

The goal of this study is to examine the effectiveness of case management services for a population of justice-involved individuals with TBI history.

Methods

Two thousand three hundred and eighty-nine records from statewide behavioral health and brain injury program databases were used in two studies.

Results

Participants with a reported TBI history were more likely to have experienced trauma and to have a behavioral health diagnosis relative to incarcerated persons without TBI. Six months after release, 56.8% of participants with a history of TBI were still receiving community treatment, 27.8% were not in treatment, and 3.4% had completed treatment. There was a high attrition rate; 70% of people referred for case management failed to maintain contact.

Conclusions

For those that did receive services, these data suggest that it prevented an escalation of psychosocial needs. There were no differences in community participation as measured by the Mayo Portland Adaptability Index’s Participation Index (M2PI) scores (t₂₄ = .497, p = 0.624) at intake and after 6 months of case management. This study confirms that case management confers a benefit to persons with TBI who are released from the criminal justice system. Further, recidivism rates for this vulnerable group were no different from the larger population of returning citizens.

KEYWORDS:

• TBI
• justice-involved
• recidivism
• case management
• re-entry
• returning citizens
• brain injury

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank Mia Baumgartner and Hollis Lyman for their assistance in preparing this paper for publication.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.