AATOD has been working to increase access to methadone treatment though the criminal justice system. We have identified critical access points, which would encourage this initiative through jails, drug courts and probation and parole offices.

AATOD will be using Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Innovator Award funds coupled with a Mallinckrodt grant to accomplish five basic objectives.

The first objective will be to increase access to methadone treatment in jails, building on the Rikers Island model in New York City and the recent expansion to treatment access to methadone services in other states, including Florida and Rhode Island. This project will focus on jails as opposed to prisons, based with recent meetings with correctional facility managers and other representatives in the criminal justice system. It appears that inmates in jail have a shorter sentencing with a significant percentage returning to the community.

A second objective of this initiative is to increase the flow of educational information to drug court judges and administrators, jail representatives and probation and parole officials. We build on the foundation of the Drug Court Practitioner Fact Sheet, which AATOD developed for the National Drug Court Institute (NDCI) during 2002.

Another objective will be to evaluate laws and policies in five targeted states to develop guidelines and methods of overcoming any related impediments to increasing access to methadone treatment through the criminal justice system. The Legal Action Center (LAC), which is a public interest law firm that specializes in this area, based in New York and Washington, D.C., will work with AATOD in evaluating such policies and practices.

A final objective of the study will be to learn about the ideological and funding impediments to increase access to methadone treatment by conducting a national survey among three criminal justice organizations, including the National Drug Court Institute, the American Probation and Parole Association and the American Jail Association.

Update - January 10, 2005

AATOD has been working to increase access to methadone treatment through the criminal justice system. We have identified critical access points, which would encourage this initiative through jails, drug courts and probation and parole offices. AATOD has been using a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Innovators Award coupled with a Mallinckrodt grant to accomplish a number of basic objectives.

The first objective has been to increase access to methadone treatment in jails, building on the Riker's Island model in New York City and the recent expansion of treatment access to methadone treatment in other states, including Florida, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania.

This project already achieved a number of successes in 2005. The state of Maryland decided to provide access to methadone maintenance treatment for its opioid-addicted inmates in the Baltimore City Jail, effective July 1, 2005.

The state of New Mexico began a process of providing access to methadone to its opioid-addicted inmates in its jail-based system as well during November, 2005.

The Orlando County Jail also initiated a buprenorphine treatment program for opioid-addicted inmates, who were not enrolled in a methadone treatment program at time of incarceration, expanding access to the existing methadone treatment services, which are provided to inmates, who are enrolled in a methadone treatment program at time of incarceration.

A second objective of this initiative is to increase the flow of educational information to Drug Court judges and administrators, jail representatives, and probation and parole officials. We will build on the foundation of the Drug Court Practitioner Fact-Sheet, which AATOD developed for the National Drug Court Institute (NDCI) during 2002. This Drug Court Practitioner Fact-Sheet will be completely updated during the first quarter of 2006 and will include an attitudinal survey, which will be developed by NDRI, a nationally renowned, research-based organization in New York City.

Another objective will be to evaluate the laws and policies of five targeted states, to develop guidelines and methods of overcoming any related impediments to increasing access to methadone and buprenorphine through the criminal justice system. The Legal Action Center (LAC), which is a public interest law firm that specializes in the work of our field, based in New York and Washington, DC, will work with AATOD in evaluating such policies and practices.