Championing Change to Save Lives: A Call to Action to Implement Reforms to Increase Use of Medications to Treat Opioid Use Disorder in Correctional Settings
Author | Sonia L. Canzater,Regina M. LaBelle |
Published date | 01 March 2022 |
Date | 01 March 2022 |
DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0734016820981629 |
Championing Change to Save
Lives: A Call to Action to
Implement Reforms to
Increase Use of Medications
to Treat Opioid Use Disorder
in Correctional Settings
Sonia L. Canzater
1
and Regina M. LaBelle
1
Abstract
The disproportional rates of opioid use disorder (OUD) in U.S. correctional facilities make them
prime intervention points to treat OUD utilizing medication to treat opioid use disorder (MOUD),
the evidence-based clinical standard of care. MOUD has been shown to be effective to support
recovery and reduce recurrence of OUD, overdose deaths, and recidivism for justice-involved
persons both while incarcerated and once they reenter their communities. Despite the high pre-
valence, most jails and prisons do not offer MOUD. Litigation has spurred expanded access in more
facilities, but widespread MOUD access can only become a reality through a comprehensive effort of
corrections officials, medical experts, advocates, legislators, and other champions to raise awareness
and affect ideological and policy change. It is a legal and ethical imperative that the lives of justice-
involved persons not be jeopardized by the lack of evidence-based treatment for OUD in correc-
tional settings.
Keywords
opioids, correctional facilities, MOUD, treatment
In the United States, one in 38 adults is under some form of correctional supervision, either in a
detention- or community-based setting (Kaeble & Cowhig, 2018, p. 16). There are currently nearly
2.2 million adults in U.S. correctional facilities, with 10.7 million people cycling through local jails
each year (Kaeble & Cowhig, 2018, p. 16; Zheng, 2020, p. 19). More than half of adults held in jails
and prisons have illicit drug substance use disordercompared to 3%in the general population
1
O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC, USA
Corresponding Author:
Sonia L. Canzater, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, 600 New Jersey Avenue, NW Washington, DC
20001, USA.
Email: sc1574@georgetown.edu
Criminal Justice Review
ª2020 Georgia State University
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0734016820981629
journals.sagepub.com/home/cjr
2022, Vol. 47(1) 94–102
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