In a lengthy investigatory piece, the Marshall Project (8/10, Schwartzapfel) reports that three years ago, “Congress passed the First Step Act, a wide-ranging prison reform legislation that, among other things, required the federal prison system to expand access to medications for people addicted to opioids.” Currently, however, the combination of “bureaucratic inertia and outdated thinking about addiction treatment means the federal program is still serving only a tiny fraction of those eligible, The Marshall Project has learned.” As of last month, “the Bureau of Prisons [BOP] had only 268 people on medications to treat opioid dependence, according to Jeffrey A. Burkett, who helps oversee the rollout of the program as the National Health Services Administrator for the BOP.” This figure represents “less than 2% of the more than 15,000 people the bureau itself estimated were eligible, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report.”
Related Links:
— “Drugs that treat opioid addiction and overdoses not widely available in federal prisons “Beth Schwartzapfel, The Marshall Project, August 10, 2021