Course Summary:

This course focuses on the use of Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) in jails, prisons, and the reentry process, when justice-involved individual return to the community.  MAT has been carefully studied and shown to be effective in treating opioid use disorders (OUDs).

The impact of opioid use on individuals transitioning from jail or prison back to the community is overwhelmingly negative.  Outcomes include higher rates of returning to the criminal justice system, harm to families, negative public health effects such as the transmission of infectious diseases, and death.  For people with OUD involved with the criminal justice system, a lack of access to medication-based treatment leads to a greater risk of returning to use and overdose after they are released from incarceration.

The course focuses on:

-the current evidence on the effectiveness of MAT

-examples of MAT programs in criminal justice settings

-addressing challenges to implementing evidence-based practices and programs

-resources to support effective use of MAT