Nationwide, 65 percent of inmates meet the medical criteria for substance use disorder, but just 11 percent receive treatment while incarcerated. Warren J. Ferguson, MD, writes in CommonWealth magazine about the need to improve treatment of substance use disorder in justice-involved individuals.
A UMass Medical School correctional health collaborative will address substance use disorder by assessing current screening and treatment practices for opioid addiction, making recommendations for improvements, and implementing proven practices to create a model. The collaborative partners include the state departments of corrections in Connecticut and Rhode Island and Massachusetts sheriffs who oversee houses of correction in Middlesex and Barnstable counties.
The initiative is funded by National Institute on Drug Abuse the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality.