Opioid overdose deaths continue to rise, increasing by more than 8 percent between February 2021 and February 2022. Treatment for opioid use disorder is a critical intervention to prevent overdose death, but individuals with opioid use disorder who are involved in the criminal justice system face unique barriers to care. Prior to COVID-19, an estimated 65 percent of inmates were living with substance use disorder generally, while research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse indicates that only 5 percent of these inmates specifically with opioid use disorder in jail or prison settings receive medication-related treatment.
This dataset examines whether state correctional facilities have explicitly established a medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) treatment program, and whether and how states ensured continued access to MOUD treatment during the pandemic. Further, this dataset tracks state variance among different COVID-19 mitigation measures related to correctional facilities, like early release and visitation restrictions.
This dataset, published on PDAPS.org, is cross-sectional and displays key features of mitigation laws at state correctional facilities relating to MOUD treatment across all 50 states and the District of Columbia in effect as of June 1, 2022. The data were created with support from JCOIN grant U01DA050442 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse as part of the NIH HEAL Initiative.