D: Managing the Key Transition Period

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Outline
Introduction
Policy Statements:
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Additional Resources

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4: For those who are eligible for public benefits, there is often a long application process delay.

In this chapter:

Overview

Recommendations:

A. Ensure interagency collaboration to effectively screen inmates for eligibility for TANF, Medicaid, supplemental security income, food stamps, and other benefits, and to facilitate successful prerelease application for these benefits.
B. Assess individuals in prison or jail for eligibility for veterans' benefits and services, and ensure access to those benefits for eligible individuals.
C. Help inmates identify and apply for appropriate benefits and identification as part of their transition plan.
D. Ensure that documents issued by departments of corrections are accepted as valid identification by other agencies.
E. Improve collaboration among agencies serving individuals re-entering the community.
F. Ensure timely access to Medicaid after release for eligible individuals by suspending, instead of terminating, Medicaid benefits during incarceration.
G. Facilitate access to "nonrecurrent" TANF benefits by individuals with criminal records who are re-entering the community.
H. Adopt a narrow definition of "in violation of a condition of parole/probation" for the purposes of TANF, food stamps, SSI & public housing.
I. Adopt balanced admission and eviction policies for public housing that consider individual circumstances.
J. Ensure continued Medicaid coverage for TANF families with parents who are released from prison or jail.

Research Highlights:

/Report/PartII/ChapterII-D/PolicyStatement24/ResearchHighlight24-4

The time between the application for and the receipt of benefits can be significant for anyone, including those coming out of prison. In addition, in some states and for some programs, application processes have become more difficult in the last several years. A 2003 study that examined the welfare application process in six locations, for example, described the complexity of New York City's TANF application process, which requires applicants to attend two eligibility interviews in two different locations, undergo fingerprinting and photographing for fraud prevention purposes, receive a home visit from an eligibility verification investigator, attend a mandatory workforce orientation, and attend daily job search classes for the duration of the 30-day eligibility determination period. ^[1]

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Reentry Policy Council

D: Managing the Key Transition Period

4: For those who are eligible for public benefits, there is often a long application process delay.

In this chapter: