Corrections

The National Governors Association and the American Correctional Association recently released a new toolkit on "Expanding Access to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in Corrections and Community Settings: A Roadmap for States to Reduce Opioid Use Disorder for People in the Justice System." This roadmap highlights existing state efforts and serves as a policy development tool for Governors and state officials seeking to improve coordination and bolster existing efforts across state agencies to address OUD among people involved in the justice system by expanding access to evidence-based medications. The following are key steps for supporting MOUD in corrections settings.

This webinar presents information about implementing MAT in criminal justice settings, provides insight into current MAT programs, and solutions for overcoming barriers. Learn more about SAMHSA's GAINS Center at https://www.samhsa.gov/gains-center

This report provides recommendations for actions that state and local leaders can take immediately to increase evidence-based practices, decrease arbitrary determinations, and prevent overdose deaths. The report also provides concrete steps that will, in the longterm, help dismantle a siloed system of unequal access and disparities and move towards an integrated system that promotes restorative justice, where people and families are treated with dignity, and where addiction is treated as a health and wellness matter rather than one of moral failing or criminality.

This webinar highlighted national trends and best practices in medication-based treatment for opioid use disorder in corrections. Participants provided an important perspective on efforts to provide the standard of care for people with opioid use disorder.

The most effective therapy for people with opioid use disorder involves the use of Food and Drug Administration-approved medications—methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone. Despite evidence that this approach, known as medications for opioid use disorder, reduces relapse and saves lives, the vast majority of jails and prisons do not offer this treatment.

At least 95 percent of individuals in state prisons will eventually return to communities. In fact, in a typical year more than half a million people do so, with many more coming from jails. A disproportionate share of these individuals have one or more chronic illnesses, including more than half who met the criteria for a non-alcohol and nicotine-related substance use disorder from 2007 to 2009, according to the latest available data.

Corrections-Based Responses to the Opioid Epidemic: Lessons from New York State’s Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution Program focuses on the efforts of NYS to implement an overdose education and naloxone distribution program that teaches all soon-to-be released people in state correctional facilities—as well as their families and corrections staff—about the risks of opioid use, trains them in the use of naloxone, and offers it to them free of charge at release.

This RSV Breakout Session was held in the Mt. Vernon Square Room on Wednesday, March 4, 2020, at 4:15 PM

Through enhanced primary care, the Transitions Clinic Network (TCN) seeks to improve the health of people with chronic conditions who return to their communities from prison.

The consequences for failing to treat OUD within correctional settings are significant. In addition to risk of overdose, most individuals who receive MAT in the community lose access to treatment upon confinement; studies show these individuals experience extreme stress. Individuals with opioid dependence entering correctional facilities are also at high risk for opioid withdrawal syndrome.