Addiction and Mental Health Care After Incarceration

Getting Care After Jail or Prison

Leaving jail or prison can mean finding a place to sleep, getting to appointments and replacing paperwork while trying to stay well. Reentry is the transition from custody back to the community. For someone receiving addiction or mental health treatment, it should include a plan for continuing care after release.^[1]

You do not need to solve every problem before asking for treatment. Start by telling a healthcare professional what could interrupt your care today, such as an empty medication bottle, a missed dose or no way to reach an appointment. Ask who can help with that specific problem.

If someone cannot be awakened or is breathing slowly after possible opioid use, give naloxone if available and call 911. Stay with them until help arrives.^[2] For suicidal thoughts or emotional distress, call or text 988.^[3]

What to Arrange Before Release

Ask the facility’s medical team, social worker or release planner to connect you directly with the people who will provide care afterward. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) recommends planning that covers medication, treatment, housing, benefits and peer support.^[1]

Use the questions below to turn a referral into a plan you can follow. If you are already out, take the same questions to a community clinic or reentry worker.

Write down names and contact details. Before ending a planning conversation, ask: “What should I do if this appointment is canceled, I cannot get there or my medication runs out first?” Keep the answer with your release papers.

Keeping Medication Available After Release

Ask for a medication list and enough medication or prescriptions to bridge the time until your community appointment. SAMHSA identifies this as a key part of release planning. What a particular facility supplies needs to be confirmed before you leave.^[1]

Review the handoff with the medical team. Useful details to record include:

• The name, strength and directions for each medication.
• When you last received it, including the date of any long-acting injection.
• How much you have left and when the next dose or refill is due.
• The receiving prescriber’s name, appointment date and pharmacy or treatment location.
• Allergies, past medication problems and any monitoring appointments the clinician says you need.

If you have already missed medication or will run out before your appointment, contact the prescriber, clinic or pharmacist promptly and explain the gap. Ask for instructions specific to that medicine. Do not borrow someone else’s prescription or change a mental health medicine on your own. The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) advises making medication changes with a healthcare professional because suddenly stopping can cause harm.^[7]

Medication planning includes mental health prescriptions, not only addiction treatment. Bring up side effects, trouble following the schedule or concern that a medicine is not helping. Those are reasons to review the plan with a clinician rather than quietly stop it.^[7]

In a 2024 National Institutes of Health news release, addiction researcher Nora Volkow emphasized connecting people with treatment even during a short jail stay. The practical importance for someone leaving custody is to make that connection before the existing source of care ends.^[8]

Opioid Treatment and Overdose Prevention After Release

Time without opioids can reduce tolerance, meaning the body is less accustomed to their effects. An amount used before incarceration may now cause an overdose. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) specifically identifies recently released people who have lost tolerance as a group needing overdose prevention, including naloxone.^[4]

For opioid use disorder, getting through withdrawal, the symptoms that can occur when opioid use stops or decreases, is not the same as receiving ongoing treatment. CDC advises against detoxification, or withdrawal management, alone because of the risks of returning to use, overdose and death. Medication treatment is associated with lower overdose and death risks.^[9]

Confirm Where Your Opioid Medication Will Come From

Three medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) treat opioid use disorder. They work differently, so a clinician should help you choose or continue the option suited to your needs.^[9]

• Buprenorphine reduces cravings and can be prescribed in office-based care.
• Methadone reduces cravings and withdrawal. Ongoing treatment for opioid use disorder is provided through a certified opioid treatment program.
• Naltrexone blocks opioid effects. Starting it requires a clinician’s assessment because using it too soon after opioids can cause severe withdrawal.^[9]

Ask the receiving service which medicine it provides, how soon it can see you and what it needs from the facility’s medical team. For methadone, confirm the program and the next dosing arrangement. For a prescription filled at a pharmacy, ask the pharmacy to confirm that it can fill it.

Counseling can be part of care, but difficulty obtaining counseling should not delay medication treatment for opioid use disorder.^[9]

Why the First Community Appointment Matters

A Massachusetts study published in 2025 followed 6,400 people with probable opioid use disorder across seven county jails.^[10] Among those who received addiction medication in jail, 60.2% had a community medication treatment record within 30 days after release.^[10] Among those who did not receive it in jail, 17.6% did.^[10]

The study was observational, meaning researchers compared existing care rather than assigning people randomly. The groups differed before release, and the study covered one state during the pandemic. It cannot prove medication caused the entire difference. It does show why a prescription in custody should not be mistaken for a completed connection to community care.^[10]

Keep Naloxone Available

Naloxone can reverse an opioid overdose. It is different from naltrexone and does not replace ongoing addiction treatment. Ask a pharmacist or local health department how to obtain it and learn how to use the product you receive. Community programs may offer it free or at reduced cost.^[2]

If an overdose is suspected, give naloxone if available and call 911. Follow the product instructions and the emergency dispatcher’s directions, and stay with the person until emergency help arrives.^[2]

When Withdrawal or Other Symptoms Need Urgent Help

Do not try to manage alcohol or benzodiazepine withdrawal alone after heavy or regular use. Alcohol withdrawal can become life-threatening. Suddenly stopping benzodiazepines, such as Xanax or Valium, can cause severe withdrawal, including seizures. Ask a medical professional about a supervised plan.^[11][12]

If you think you are in alcohol withdrawal, contact a healthcare professional right away or go to the emergency room. Seizures, severe confusion, hallucinations, fever or an irregular heartbeat require emergency care. Call 911 for a life-threatening situation, including trouble breathing.^[11][12]

Tell the medical team about alcohol, opioids, benzodiazepines and other medicines or substances you have used. Combining benzodiazepines with opioids or alcohol raises the risk of serious harm. Do not abruptly stop prescribed medicines to resolve that concern yourself.^[12]

Health Insurance and Care Without Coverage

Check your coverage status rather than assuming it restarted when you were released. Ask your state’s Medicaid agency or a benefits worker whether you are enrolled, whether coverage was suspended and what is needed to make it active. Eligibility and arrangements differ by state.^[5]

HealthCare.gov says release from incarceration creates a 60-day Special Enrollment Period to apply for and select Marketplace coverage. This is a chance to enroll outside the usual annual window. It does not mean coverage begins automatically on release day, so ask when the plan would start.^[5]

Ask About Pre-Release Medicaid Help

Some states have approved Medicaid reentry programs covering certain services before release. These are not a universal benefit in every jail or prison. Ask whether your facility participates, whether you qualify and which services are available.^[13]

The September 2026 guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) allows up to 60 days of pre-release coverage for future adult-facility approvals, replacing the earlier allowance of up to 90 days for those approvals. Earlier state approvals and local implementation can differ. A national article cannot establish your facility’s current arrangements.^[14]

The guidance’s minimum package includes a 30-day supply of prescribed medication at release when clinically appropriate and consistent with covered benefits. That is a feature of qualifying reentry demonstrations, not a promise that every person leaving custody receives 30 days of every medicine. Confirm the actual supply and next prescription with your medical team.^[14]

If Insurance Is Missing or Still Pending

Ask a community health center or your state mental health and substance use agency about care without insurance. SAMHSA identifies both as starting points for affordable help. Confirm charges, eligibility and medication costs before assuming a service is free.^[6]

For help comparing those arrangements, review ways to access mental health and addiction care. Tell the clinic if waiting for coverage would leave you without medication.

Finding Reentry Care Near You

Start with the receiving clinic named in your release plan. If there is no appointment, use FindTreatment.gov or contact your county’s mental health and substance use services. A primary care clinician can also assess mental health concerns and help connect you with treatment.^[3]

The Transitions Clinic Network directory lists community primary care programs for people returning from incarceration. It also marks inactive sites. Check the listing and call the clinic to confirm it is operating, accepts new patients and can meet your needs.^[15]

In a 2012 Yale news article about a study of people leaving prison with chronic health conditions, physician Emily Wang explained the value of providing care tailored to their needs immediately after release. The study’s specialized program included a community health worker with incarceration experience. That kind of practical help is worth asking a clinic about.^[16]

Adapt the example to your situation. You can also ask whether the service provides counseling, prescribing or both, and how it handles records from a correctional facility. A general therapy appointment may not include medication management. Mental health treatment may involve therapy, medication or a combination.^[3]

If considering online treatment, ask which appointments can happen remotely, what equipment and private space you need, and whether any prescribing, testing or medication services require a local visit. Confirm the provider can treat you where you will be located.

Housing, Transportation and Daily Support

A care plan needs to account for where you will stay and how you will reach treatment. SAMHSA recommends coordinating those needs during reentry, including help from peer workers who have experience with the transition.^[1]

If you do not have a place to stay, contact 211 for local community resources and ask about emergency housing and reentry assistance. A referral is a starting point, not a guaranteed placement. Ask the housing provider about openings, eligibility, charges and whether it can accommodate your prescribed medication and treatment schedule.^[17]

When travel is the obstacle, ask the clinic or care coordinator about transportation assistance and visit options. Write down the actual pickup arrangement or route, not just the name of a transport service.

Help from Family or Another Trusted Person

Choose the help you want. A trusted person might join a scheduling call, offer a ride, help organize papers or learn to use naloxone. You can ask the clinic what permission it needs before sharing information with that person.

If a court or supervision arrangement requires treatment, ask the responsible official what attendance or documentation is needed. Separately ask the clinician what health information may be shared and with whom. Do not assume that attending therapy automatically satisfies every release condition.

Support can also come from someone outside your family. Ask about a peer worker or community reentry organization if those relationships are unavailable or unsafe. You can decide whom to involve.

Building a Care Plan You Can Keep Using

Start with the need most likely to interrupt care: medication that is running out, an unconfirmed appointment or a missing ride. Write down the next action and the person who can help. Bring unresolved problems to the next visit so the plan reflects your actual circumstances.

Addiction recovery can include ongoing treatment, practical support and a community that fits your needs. If you are still looking for care, explore treatment and therapy options and ask directly about experience helping people after incarceration.

In the United States, call or text 988 for suicidal thoughts or emotional distress. Call 911 for a life-threatening emergency.^[3]