Overdose prevention for prisoners in New York: A novel programme and collaboration

This article published in the Harm Reduction Journal is a brief report on the establishment of a new program in New York State prisons to prepare prisoners to avoid the increased risks of drug overdose death associated with the transition to the community by training them in overdose prevention and making available naloxone, a medication that quickly reverses the effects of an opioid overdose, to all prisoners as they re-enter the community. It is a milestone collaboration in the USA between public health, the correctional system, and a community-based harm reduction program in response to the growth of heroin and opioid analgesic use and related morbidity and mortality, working together to get naloxone into the hands of the people at high risk of overdosing and/or of witnessing an opioid overdose.

Death from drug poisoning is a national issue in the USA. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is the leading cause of injury-related mortality in the USA and is associated with more than 40,000 lives lost annually. Over 50 % of drug poisoning deaths are attributed to opioids such as heroin and prescription of opioid analgesics. Heroin-related overdose deaths have nearly tripled across the country from 2010 to 2013. Opioid users who transition from confinement in prison or other institutional settings to the community are at particularly high risk for an overdose. Studies indicate that newly released prisoners have very high rates of drug overdose deaths.

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