AMHERST — Two researchers from the University of Massachusetts were awarded a $10 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to pilot a program for opioid addiction treatment in seven jails in the state, including the Hampshire County Jail and House of Correction.
The grant comes from $115 million in NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse funding distributed among 12 institutions from around the country to create the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network, which is aimed at improving opioid treatment in criminal justice settings.
The program will pilot a state-mandated treatment program over the next five years.
The program will be led by co-principal investigators Elizabeth Evans, an assistant professor at the UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences, and Peter Friedmann, associate dean of research at UMass Worcester and chief research officer at Baystate Health.
Of the seven participating jails, some will be trying new strategies to combat opioid addiction, while others will see “a strengthening or extension of what they’re already doing,” Evans said.
The program will study the efficacy of methadone, extended-release naltrexone and buphrenorphoine/nalexone in treating opioid addiction, and will also look at outcomes for inmates who do not receive any medication.
The Hampshire County Jail and House of Correction has been providing buprenorphine, methadone and Vivitrol (naltrexone) since November 2018, said a spokesman for the Hampshire Sheriff’s Office. The office began providing medication-assisted treatment, which combines behavioral therapy with medication, in 2014 to treat opioid-use disorders.
Among other programs, those incarcerated also receive overdose education and are given Narcan upon release, the spokesman said.
Nearly 60 percent of the men in the custody of the Hampshire Sheriff’s Office meet criteria for an opioid use disorder, according to the spokesman.
The program will not only track treatment effects among incarcerated populations, but also among those released from jail.
According to a 2017 report by state’s Department of Public Health, the death rate for those released from Massachusetts prisons and jails is 120 times higher than those who do not have a history of incarceration. Additionally, almost one out of 11 people who die of an opioid-related overdose have a history of incarceration in the state.
A vital aspect of the program is ensuring follow-up care once prisoners are released. Although the three medications included in the program have shown to be “very effective at treating opioid abuse disorder,” Evans said that for treatment to be successful, “it’s so important that people have access to (the medications) and continue to take them.”
With the implementation of the program, Evans sees “a turning point” in the role that jails can play in addiction treatment.
“Jails seem to embracing an expanded role not just about making sure our communities are safe, but also how they can help to prevent opioid overdose deaths and promote health and wellness among incarcerated populations,” she said.
In a statement sent to the Gazette, Hampshire Sheriff Patrick J. Cahillane said that he is “pleased that my office is among the county correctional facilities taking part in the medication-assisted treatment pilot program.”
“Through our work with Dr. Friedmann and Dr. Evans, we hope to improve our programs and improve the outcomes for the men in our care and custody, for their families and their communities,” he said.
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.