A new method of treating incarcerated opioid users led to fewer overdose deaths after inmates were released, a retrospective analysis in Rhode Island found.
Unintentional overdose deaths of recently incarcerated individuals declined 60.5% after the state's Department of Corrections began providing medication-assisted addiction treatment (MAT), reported Traci Green, PhD, MSc, of Brown University and co-authors in a research letter in JAMA Psychiatry.
The downturn appeared to have contributed to overall population-level declines in overdose deaths in Rhode Island.
While the findings are consistent with other studies of addiction treatment in prison, "it is remarkable that the reduction in mortality occurred in the face of a devastating, illicit, fentanyl-driven overdose epidemic," the researchers wrote.