Overdose deaths and hospitalizations among California prison inmates have fallen dramatically during the first two years of a program that uses prescribed drugs to treat incarcerated addicts. It's the largest such effort in the U.S.
includes the once-controversial step of using drugs including buprenorphine, naltrexone and methadone to dampen addicts’ cravings and euphoria and relieve withdrawal symptoms while weening them off opioids. It took years of urging by lawmakers and treatment professionals for prison officials to try the program, although the approach is now widely used and has general support from California prosecutors and probation officers.
In 2019, California’s prison system had a record-high 51 overdose deaths per 100,000 inmates, more than double the overall death rate for other state prison systems. The death rate in California had been steadily climbing since 2012.and to a preliminary estimate of 20 deaths per 100,000 inmates in 2021, with a final report on last year’s deaths not expected until late this year.
J. Clark Kelso, the federal official who oversees inmate health, called the findings “a step in the right direction.” The use of anti-craving drugs is part of an approach that includes what is known as “cognitive behavioral therapy,” in which people talk with mental health counselors to identify and change their own self-destructive behavior.