This five-year study examines the benefits of methadone maintenance treatment initiated in prison and continued in the community to male offenders who were previously, but not currently, heroin-dependent. It is anticipated that such prisoners will have more favorable outcomes in the year following release with regard to drug abuse, crime, and HIV risk behavior than either prisoners who receive counseling only or begin initiation of methadone maintenance in the community
Most prisoners with histories of pre-incarceration heroin addiction do not receive treatment while incarcerated or upon release. Effective treatment for such prisoners is urgently needed because rapid relapse typically follows release. Relapse is associated with increased risk for HIV, overdose death, criminal activity, and reincarceration. Other than three studies of methadone maintenance with short-term jail inmates, the only study of longer-term inmates who were previously, but not currently, heroin-dependent was the investigator's pilot study with pre-release inmates. Based on that pilot study, which found that initiating maintenance treatment is feasible and facilitates post-release treatment entry, the present study provides a more rigorous examination of this unique treatment approach.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
211
Counseling only in prison, with passive referral to drug abuse treatment upon release
Counseling only in prison, with opportunity to enter methadone maintenance upon release
Counseling and methadone maintenance in prison, with opportunity to continue that treatment upon release
Metropolitan Transition Center
Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Treatment Retention in the Community
days in community treatment
Time frame: one year post prison release
Heroin Use
opioid urine test results-percent of participants who were opioid-positive
Time frame: results at one year post prison release
Cocaine Use
cocaine urine test results-percent of participants testing positive for cocaine
Time frame: one year post prison release
HIV-risk Behaviors
Time frame: one year
Criminal Activity
self reported days of criminal activity
Time frame: one year post prison release
Employment
number of days employed, past 30 days-self report, assessed one year post-prison release
Time frame: one year
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