Co-hosted the National Criminal Justice Association Forum on Criminal Justice for any affiliated justice-related personnel and staff from all states and territories. RSAT TTA staff planned and held the following sessions:
Implementing Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) in Jail-based Corrections - The risk of overdose from opioid use is significantly higher for incarcerated individuals reentering society than it is for non-criminal justice involved persons. Key factors contributing to overdose include limited access to MOUD during incarceration and limited access to treatment upon reintegration. In Massachusetts, the legislature mandated county jails establish medication-assisted treatment programs offering all three forms of MOUD. These jails provided treatment options in various ways, some opting to become licensed opioid treatment programs (OTPs) while others outsourced treatment options to community-based health centers. This session will showcase differing approaches to implementing MOUD programming and offer a panel discussion amongst key staff about the challenges and successes of their respective programs.
Peer Support Partnerships: Improving Treatment Engagement and Outcomes in Corrections - While peer support services have long been integral to community mental health and substance use treatment, their application in criminal justice settings is now showing significant results. In this workshop, learn how peer support programs are implemented across different jurisdictions, highlighting the unique approaches and common benefits. Attendees will hear about the innovative use of peer support services from representatives of two Departments of Corrections utilizing peers in correctional treatment settings. Panelists will share the positive impact of these model programs including increased trust and communication between incarcerated individuals and correctional staff, improved treatment engagement and retention, and lowered recidivism outcomes. Through their respective DOC’s experience, panelists will showcase the transformative power of peer support in fostering recovery within correctional facilities.
Rehabilitative Technologies in Corrections: Problem, Solution and Roadmap - The research is clear. The more people who are incarcerated are able to maintain contact with supportive family and others the less likely they are to recidivate once released. However, promoting in-person contact can be difficult, even telephone contact can be prohibitively expensive depending upon the prison or jail's telecommunication system. In this session, we will describe the innovative programs, at the Iowa Department of Corrections and Colorado Department of Corrections, providing free or greatly reduced video calling for people in correctional facilities and the impact on incarcerated persons’ rehabilitation, the correctional institutions and the wider community.
Jail and Prison Substance Use Disorder and Suicide - Suicides constitute the highest category of non-"natural" deaths in jails at 29.9% in 2019, the last year data was released by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics. While a lower percent of persons in prison than jails die from suicides (8.1%), that number is increasing. From 2001 to 2019, the number of suicides increased 85% in state prisons. Suicides also increased 13% in jails over this period. Experts advise that there are no validated correctional suicide risk assessment instruments that accurately identify all persons at risk for suicide. In this session, we will reveal the major gap in most prison and jail suicide prevention programs, namely the failure to understand the role of substance use disorder in suicides. Withdrawal from opioids and other substances and the lack of substance use disorder treatment are both drivers of correctional suicides. In addition, research confirms that a significant proportion of overdose deaths in prisons and jails officially designated as “accidental deaths” are intentional. This suggests that suicides are underassessed in the nation’s jails and prisons. The workshop will reveal how prison and jail suicides can be substantially reduced through withdrawal management in jails and substance use disorder medication and treatment that conform to contemporary standards of care.
RSAT TTA Meeting for SAA’s and Subawardees - This session will serve as the annual meeting for residential substance abuse treatment (RSAT) grant administrators from State Administrative Agencies (SAAs) as well as RSAT program leadership from subawardees. BJA will present grant announcements and program updates. RSAT TTA will share recently published and upcoming releases of curricula and toolkits, program successes and future training opportunities. The team will also highlight the Promising Practices Guidelines (PPGs), Fidelity Assessment, process to assess Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) program adherence to these guidelines, compendium project and other resources available via the RSAT website.
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