A Better Life—A Safer Community
Helping Inmates Access Federal Benefits

This January 2003 paper discusses access to federal benefit programs for adults with serious mental illnesses and juveniles with serious mental or emotional disorders leaving jail, prison, juvenile detention or other correctional institutions.

• Introduction
• Impact On Recidivism And Quality Of Life
• Federal Programs
• Problematic Federal Rules
• State Flexibility In Federal Programs
• Restoring Federal Benefits
• Restoring Benefits: State And Local Initiatives
• Strategies
• Conclusion
• Appendix 1
• Notes

The full paper is also available free in printer-friendly PDF format. You will need to download the free Acrobat Reader to view and print the report.

© 2003 Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, Washington D.C., January 2003. Reproduction of this issue brief all or in part is authorized for noncommercial advocacy or educational purposes with full attribution to the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. The brief was written by policy director Chris Koyanagi and was edited and designed by communications director Lee Carty. Its development and production were funded by the After Prison Initiative of the Open Society Institute, supplemented by general program support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.