Macmadu, A., Goedel, W. C., Adams, J. W., Brinkley-Rubinstein, L., Green, T. C., Clarke, J. G., Martin, R. A., Rich, J. D., & Marshall, B. D. L. (2020). Estimating the impact of wide scale uptake of screening and medications for opioid use disorder in US prisons and jails. Drug and alcohol dependence, 208, 107858. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2020.107858 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32050112/ 

The objective of this article is to estimate the impact of screening and treatment with medications for OUD in US prisons and jails on post-release opioid-related mortality. Data from the National Center for Vital Statistics, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and relevant literature was used to construct Monte Carlo simulations of a counterfactual scenario in which wide scale uptake of screening and treatment with medications for OUD occurred in US prisons and jails in 2016. The authors found that prison and jail-based programs that comprehensively screen and provide treatment with medications for OUD have the potential to produce substantial reductions in opioid-related overdose deaths in a high-risk population. This article serves as a useful resource that provides evidence-based results of the impact of MOUD treatment program integration in correctional facilities. 

Bottom Line: The model used in this study estimated 1,840 lives would have been saved if MOUD was available in prisons and jails, and 4,480 lives would have been saved if MOUD treatment began in a correctional facility and continued in the community.