PROVIDENCE – Officials from the R.I. Department of Corrections can be seen in a new video outlining the department’s expansion of its medication-assisted treatment program for inmates suffering from opioid addiction.
The video lasting one hour and 16 minutes, released earlier this month, also features leaders from Brown University and the Opioid Response Network, who discuss the program’s planning, execution and success.
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The video can be seen here.
In it, officials admit that RIDOC’s previous approach to addiction treatment, which meant weaning inmates off methadone or suboxone, was ineffective, evidenced by statistics showing that more than 20% of people who died from overdoses in Rhode Island had served time in the state’s prisons within the past two years.
Implemented in 2015, the state’s medication-assisted treatment program has helped reduce the overdose rate in people leaving Rhode Island prisons by 61%, according to Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s office.
The video was funded by the Opioid Response Network, along with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
