Corrections_Today_Summer_2025_Vol.87_No.2

Resolutions and Policies (continued)

H. Develop effective correctional strategies that provide constructive activities, and increase staff and offender safety and security; I. Promote facility design that enables effec tive supervision within facilities; J. Provide orientation and ongoing in service training to staff, volunteers and contractors, emphasizing the zero-toler ance policy, explaining state law, case law, administrative policies on the issue, and providing the skills needed to effectively manage offenders; K. Provide information to offenders, inmates and detainees on how to avoid sexual abuse and sexual harassment; report sexual abuse; and L. Establish a systematic process for the col lection of data that document the number of sexual assault allegations, the nature of each allegation and the resolution of the allegation.

incarceration.¹ While release from jail and prison is associated with a dramatic increase in death from opioid overdose among those with untreated Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), there is consider able data to show that treatment with opioid agonists and partial agonists reduces deaths and improves outcomes for those with opioid use dis orders.² ³ Preliminary data suggest that treatment with an opioid antagonist also reduces overdose.⁴ As a result, the 2017 bipartisan Presidential Com mission on “Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis” has recommended increased usage of medications for addiction treatment (MAT) in correctional settings. 5 Policy Statement: The American Correctional Association (ACA) supports the use of evidence-based prac tices for the treatment of opioid use disorders, reference as Medication for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD). ACA has developed recommendations specific to the needs of correctional policymakers and healthcare professionals. These recommenda tions will enable correctional administrators and others, such as community corrections, to provide evidence-based care to those in their custody or under their supervision that have opioid use disorders. ASAM recently published a document en titled The National Practice Guideline for the Use of Medications in the Treatment of Addiction Involving Opioid Use that includes treatment recommendations specifically for individuals in the justice system. 6 Pharmacotherapy, behavioral health treatment, and support services should be considered for all individuals with OUD who are involved in the justice system. ACA recommends the following for correc tional systems and programs:

2025 WINTER CONFERENCE This Public Correctional Policy was unanimously ratified by the American Correctional Association Delegate Assembly at the Winter Conference in Phoe nix, AZ on January 12, 2005. It was last reviewed and reaffirmed at the Winter Conference in Orlando, FL on January 14, 2025.

JOINT PUBLIC CORRECTIONAL POLICY ON THE TREATMENT OF OPIOID USE DISORDERS FOR JUSTICE INVOLVED INDIVIDUALS 2018-2 Introduction: Seventeen to nineteen percent of individu als in America’s jail and state prison systems have regularly used heroin or opioids prior to

A. Screening/Prevention

1. Most deaths from overdose occur dur ing the first few days following intake to the correctional facility. Screen all incoming detainees at jails and prisons

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