Rhode Island has figured out how to treat drug-addicted inmates

CRANSTON, R.I. — On a gray, bone-chilling morning, 18 men in a medium-security prison walked into an empty lunchroom and sat at stainless steel-topped tables, placing both hands palms down, as if they were about to receive a manicure.

Over the next few minutes, they received the anti-addiction medication buprenorphine under their tongues, administered by a nurse and double-checked by guards — with military precision. Then they were strip-searched before returning to their cells.

This half-hour routine happens every day, part of a program developed at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections to ensure that the clear strips of buprenorphine the inmates need to maintain recovery and stay focused on rehabilitation aren’t diverted to black markets inside or outside the prison.

Nationwide, two-thirds of the country’s 2.3 million inmates are addicted to drugs or alcohol, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. But only a small fraction of those who need treatment behind bars receive it.

The vast majority of the nation’s nearly 2,000 state and federal prisons and 3,100 county and municipal jails do not offer addiction treatment that includes any of the three medications — methadone, buprenorphine and Vivitrol — approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

That’s changing, albeit slowly. An estimated 120 jails in 32 states and prison systems in 10 states now offer evidence-based treatment for opioid addiction, triple the number in 2018.

Rhode Island started providing medication-assisted treatment, or MAT, for opioid addiction in its unified prison and jail system in 2016.

And with the help of Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo and a $2 million annual budget, it is doing more than any other state to ensure that all inmates who need addiction...