The influence of incarceration and Re-entry on the availability of health care organizations in Arkansas

BACKGROUND: Studies show that ex-prisoners often experience more health problems than the general population; unfortunately, these issues follow them upon their release from prison. As such, it is possible re-entry rates signal the need for neighborhood-based health care organizations (HCOs). We ask: are incarceration and re-entry rates associated with the availability of HCOs?. METHODS: MethodsUsing 2008 Central Business Pattern data, 2008 prison admissions and release data, and 2000 and 2010 census data, we test whether prison admission and release rates impact the availability of HCOs net of neighborhood characteristics in Arkansas using Logit-Poisson hurdle models with county fixed effects. RESULTS: We find that the incarceration and re-entry rates – together known as coercive mobility -- are related to whether a neighborhood has one or more HCOs, but not to the number of HCOs in a neighborhood. CONCLUSION: Future public policies should aim to locate health care organizations in areas where there is significant churning of individuals in and out of prison. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s40352-015-0016-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.