NEW YORK, NY – Fifty percent of people in New York state prisons have substance use disorders—outdistancing the national eight percent average, according to a report this month released by Prison Policy Initiative.
PPI also noted “only around 10 percent of people in state prison in 2019 had received clinical treatment in the form of a residential treatment program, professional counseling, detoxification unit, or medication-assisted treatment.”
PPI’s report adds the Correctional Association of New York (CANY) medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorder in New York prisons report found increasing numbers of people enrolling in the program each month since it was introduced, and “underscores the importance of expanding access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD.)”
However, despite it being “widely considered the ‘gold standard’ of treatment for opioid use disorder,” it is also the “least common form of substance use disorder treatment in prisons” where, explains PPI, “21 will continue MOUD for those receiving treatment prior to their prison admission. Only 33 state prison systems will initiate MOUD, and 14 of those will only initiate treatment in the weeks prior to release.”
The Initiative notes crucial developments, including in 2021, when the “New York state legislature passed a law requiring MOUD programming in all state prisons to include all three FDA-approved medications and an ‘appropriate level of counseling…to evaluate the implementation of the medication-assisted treatment program in state prisons.'”
Prison Policy Initiative said, “New York has indeed provided MOUD longer than many state prison systems. However, not nearly enough people in New York prisons had access to necessary care, as evidenced by the rapid increase of participation following the expansion of the treatment program to include all medications and operate at all facilities.
“From 2022 to 2023 alone, the Correctional Association found that the participation rate in the treatment program increased by a staggering 552 percent,” added PPI.
“The Correctional Association reported that in January 2024, 25 percent of health services positions were unfilled across all prisons in New York, and incarcerated people said that access to timely healthcare is limited, regardless of opioid use disorder or treatment participation.
“At some facilities, half of people interviewed described waiting more than a month to see a medical provider after requesting medical care,” reported PPI.
“New York state law requires that each person receiving MOUD works with an authorized specialist to determine an individualized treatment plan, including an appropriate level of counseling,” added PPI.
“Alarmingly, the Correctional Association found no mention of counseling services in the Department’s policy and found no targeted mental health, peer support, or counseling services specifically available for MOUD recipients at any of the facilities visited,” PPI charged.
