The Brief Addiction Science Information Source (BASIS)

Can time behind bars save your life?

Every day at the Middlesex Sheriff’s Office we use the unique window of opportunity we have with those struggling with addiction by utilizing a host of programs and tools to assist in their recovery. We’ve invested more to expand our drug treatment programs to offer inmates services, including our Accountability Recovery Community (A.R.C.). Read more →

ASHES, Vol. 11(11) – (Tobacco) free: Tobacco policy & mortality in the prison setting, with a focus on mental health

Incarcerated people in the United States experience a host of poor health outcomes, such as chronic diseases including addiction and mental illness. The rate of tobacco use in particular, which is triple that of the general population, is a major public health concern for the criminal justice system (Vaughn & del Carmen, 1993). Because of the well-documented negative health consequences of smoking, administrators have prohibited tobacco sales and use in a majority of US correctional facilities. In this week’s ASHES, as part of our Special Series on Addiction within Correctional Facilities, we review a study by Dickert and colleagues that... Read more →

Why police are putting people in treatment instead of jail

Editor’s Note: This op-ed/editorial was written by John Guilfoil, Director of the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (P.A.A.R.I.). This piece is part of our Special Series on Addiction Treatment within Correctional Facilities. We’re grateful to Mr. Guilfoil for sharing his perspectives. It is not news that the substance abuse crisis in our nation has reached epidemic proportions, and it is probably not news that drug addicts are often arrested for possession, which is their most likely interaction with police officers. But it has become national news suddenly that police departments are fed up with simply arresting drug addicts. Today,... Read more →

The DRAM, Vol. 11(11) – Identifying prisoners in need of treatment for alcohol use disorders

Earlier in this Special Series, we have noted the lack of evidence-based treatment services for incarcerated people experiencing substance use disorders (SUD). When administrators at jails and prisons do decide to provide access to SUD treatment services, they must find a way to identify which prisoners need and will respond to these services. Today, The DRAM reports on a study that evaluated standard practices for identifying incarcerated people with SUD treatment needs (Kissell et al., 2014). Methods The researchers sampled from 555 men who were eligible for the study because they were awaiting trial in one of three sampled prisons... Read more →

Substance abuse disorder treatment in the criminal justice system: a front-line perspective

Editor’s Note: This op-ed/editorial was written by Peter Kosciusko, director of substance abuse programs at Worcester County Jail and House of Correction. This piece is part of our Special Series on Addiction Treatment within Correctional Facilities. We’re grateful to Mr. Kosciusko for sharing his perspectives. The way substance abuse treatment is provided currently in most criminal justice settings is at best, inadequate and at worst, ineffective and a waste of precious resources. The system is not built for treatment. The physical state of many of our prisons is crumbling around us. Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts stated that over the... Read more →

The WAGER, Vol. 20(11) – From DSM-IV to DSM-5: Effects on the diagnosis of Gambling Disorder among incarcerated people

The American Psychiatric Association’s (2013) fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) suggests a variety of changes for the way professionals diagnose Gambling Disorder (GD). For instance, the scoring threshold for GD has been cut from 5 to 4, and one of the ten criteria, “illegal acts,”1 has been eliminated. This week, as a part of our Special Series on Addiction Treatment in Correctional Facilities, The WAGER reviews a study that examined the impact of these changes on diagnostic criteria upon diagnosis patterns amongst incarcerated people (Turner, Stinchfield, McCready, McAvoy, & Ferentzy, 2015). Methods The researchers recruited 676... Read more →

STASH Vol. 11(10) – Racial and ethnic parity for prisoners in need of treatment

In the United States, people of color are less likely to access effective treatment for psychiatric disorders, including substance use disorders, than whites (Jacobson et al., 2007). A meaningful number of inmates in state correctional facilities have a substance use disorder; therefore, it is important to discover what treatment engagement disparities might exist among incarcerated people. In this week’s STASH, as part of our Special Series on Addiction within Correctional Facilities, we review a study that explores the racial and ethnic disparities in the treatment for drug dependent inmates in U.S. state correctional facilities (Nowotny, 2015). Methods The study used... Read more →

Introduction to the Special Series on Addiction Treatment within Correctional Facilities

In 1971, President Richard Nixon announced “America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse.” For more than 40 years the war on drugs has helped place growing numbers of people experiencing substance use disorders into correctional facilities. By 2013, nearly half a million people in the US are in prison or jail for a drug offense. Recent estimates by the Department of Justice indicate that the majority of state (69%) and federal (64%) prisoners were regular drug users before incarceration and nearly one-third were on drugs at the time of their offense. Recent efforts at the... Read more →