Skip to main content
PLOS ONE logoLink to PLOS ONE
. 2020 Jan 21;15(1):e0227968. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227968

Interventions for incarcerated adults with opioid use disorder in the United States: A systematic review with a focus on social determinants of health

Olivia K Sugarman 1,2,3,*, Marcus A Bachhuber 1,2, Ashley Wennerstrom 1,2,3, Todd Bruno 4, Benjamin F Springgate 1,2,3
Editor: Becky L Genberg5
PMCID: PMC6974320  PMID: 31961908

Abstract

Incarceration poses significant health risks for people involved in the criminal justice system. As the world’s leader in incarceration, the United States incarcerated population is at higher risk for infectious diseases, mental illness, and substance use disorder. Previous studies indicate that the mortality rate for people coming out of prison is almost 13 times higher than that of the general population; opioids contribute to nearly 1 in 8 post-release fatalities overall, and almost half of all overdose deaths. Given the hazardous intersection of incarceration, opioid use disorder, and social determinants of health, we systematically reviewed recent evidence on interventions for opioid use disorder (OUD) implemented as part of United States criminal justice system involvement, with an emphasis on social determinants of health (SDOH). We searched academic literature to identify eligible studies of an intervention for OUD that was implemented in the context of criminal justice system involvement (e.g., incarceration or parole/probation) for adults ages 19 and older. From 6,604 citations, 13 publications were included in final synthesis. Most interventions were implemented in prisons (n = 6 interventions), used medication interventions (n = 10), and did not include SDOH as part of the study design (n = 8). Interventions that initiated medication treatment early and throughout incarceration had significant, positive effects on opioid use outcomes. Evidence supports medication treatment administered throughout the period of criminal justice involvement as an effective method of improving post-release outcomes in individuals with criminal justice involvement. While few studies included SDOH components, many investigators recognized SDOH needs as competing priorities among justice-involved individuals. This review suggests an evidence gap; evidence-based interventions that address OUD and SDOH in the context of criminal justice involvement are urgently needed.

Introduction

In the United States, the prison incarceration rate is the highest in the world at 655 per 100,000 [1]. Incarceration poses significant health risks for people involved in the criminal justice system [25]. Compared with the general population, incarcerated populations have much higher burdens of infectious diseases (e.g., hepatitis C virus, HIV, and tuberculosis) as well as mental illness and substance use disorder [610]. The transition from incarceration to the community itself is especially perilous [2,11,12]. In Washington State, for example, when compared with the general population, people reentering society from prison have a mortality rate nearly 13 times higher within the first two weeks post-release [3]. While multifactorial, this high mortality rate was driven largely by opioids, which were involved in approximately 1 in 8 post-release fatalities overall and over half of all overdose deaths [2,3]. Similar results were found in a more recent North Carolina study, in which the relative risk of opioid overdose death was 40 times higher than that of the general population within the first two weeks of release [12].

Increased risk of overdose post-release may be explained, at least in part, by decreased drug tolerance from a reduction in use or abstinence during incarceration. Returning to drug use following release may then be fatal due to the decreased tolerance level [2]. Medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) for opioid use disorder, in the form of buprenorphine, methadone maintenance treatment, or extended-release injectable naltrexone (XR-NTX) reduce opioid misuse and overdose by reducing withdrawal symptoms and cravings through safe, controlled levels of medication [13]. Because of its efficacy, government agencies and national professional organizations recommend initiating MOUD upon incarceration and establishing continued treatment upon release [1422].

Beyond MOUD treatment itself, social determinants of health (SDOH) are critical elements related to health outcomes post-release [21,23,24]. SDOH, as defined by the World Health Organization, are non-clinical factors including the “conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national, and local levels.” [25]. Examples include housing, transportation, socioeconomic status. Addressing SDOH and attaining health care are often interrelated difficulties and conflicting priorities for formerly incarcerated people [2123, 2529]. Difficulty procuring employment, transportation or housing, for example, may pose immediate threats to well-being, making seeking health care services a lower priority [21,23,24,2931]. The status or identifier of “formerly incarcerated” or “justice-involved” also severely restricts access to money, power, and resources. Many employment and housing applications require disclosing justice involvement, which may serve as a deterrent for potential employers, landlords, or loan officers, among others [29,30].

Previous systematic reviews have identified and compared studies of MOUD in prison settings and found treatment while incarcerated to be effective in potentially minimizing overdose risk [32]. Other studies have examined the impact of incarceration and social determinants of health on health outcomes, though we were unable to identify any systematic reviews [21,23,24,2931]. Given the relationships between incarceration, OUD, and social determinants of health, evidence is urgently needed on intersectional interventions to improve outcomes for people who have a history of justice involvement and OUD.

To fill this gap, we conducted a systematic review of existing peer-reviewed literature describing interventions for justice-involved people with OUD through a social-determinants lens. The purpose of this systematic review is to 1) identify interventions for OUD that have been implemented as part of criminal justice system involvement, 2) determine which interventions also include a social determinants component, and 3) note any common elements between interventions with significant outcomes.

Methods

We conducted a search of academic literature on May 6, 2019 to identify interventions for people with OUD implemented during incarceration following PRISMA standards for systematic reviews [33]. We used a broad definition of “incarceration” to include any involvement with the justice system. This includes prison, where people serve sentences greater than one year; jail, where people who have been arrested await trial or serve sentences less than one year; civil commitment, where people receive court-mandated inpatient treatment for a substance use disorder; probation and parole, where people serve their sentence in the community with regular check-ins to ensure adherence to sentence restrictions; and post-release, defined here as up to six months after being released from a jail or prison facility. A formal protocol for this review can be found at dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.69zhh76. Publication screening and selection was conducted by one team member (OS). Analysis was conducted by OS and TB.

We used PubMed to identify peer-reviewed articles. We limited publications to the last five years as drug overdose mortality peaked in 2014 [34], followed by declaration of opioid use as a public health emergency by the US Department of Health and Human Services in 2017 [35]. Grey literature and contact with study authors for additional studies were not pursued as part of this review. Further, because political context and region-specific legislation is particularly important for incarceration-related programming, non-U.S. based programs were not included in this review. We conducted all searches using a Boolean keyword search ((substance use OR medically assisted treatment OR opioid OR drug) AND (incarceration OR prison OR reentry OR jail)) in PubMed using the “best match” function. We completed a preliminary screen by removing duplicates and excluding articles that were not published in the last five years, were not published in English, did not have the full article text available, or did not include adults 19-years-old and older. We also searched ProQuest and Google Scholar using the same search terms and criteria. Publications identified using those methods were duplicates of the PubMed search and thus removed. Publications were limited to the last five years as drug overdose mortality peaked in 2014 [34], followed by declaration of opioid use as a public health emergency by the US Department of Health and Human Services in 2017 [35].

Next, we conducted a title and abstract screen to determine if publications fell within the inclusion criteria: 1) studies conducted in the U.S., 2) intervention studies only, 3) intervention studies for OUD, 4) for adults ages 19 and older. We excluded publications if: they described interventional studies that were conducted outside of the United States; the population of interest was under the age of 19; if studies were not interventional (e.g. epidemiological or surveillance studies); or did not investigate primary outcomes of interest. Primary outcomes of interest include: treatment initiation during incarceration, post-release opioid-related mortality, non-fatal overdose, and opioid use (heroin or prescription opioids), treatment initiation in community, adherence to treatment post-release, maintaining treatment post-release (i.e. keeping and attending appointments for treatment), and withdrawal symptoms. Finally, we reviewed the full text of the publications preliminarily meeting inclusion criteria to verify inclusion and relevance to this systematic review.

For the publications included in final review, the data were extracted individually by investigators and then compared. Findings were compiled in a categorical matrix (Table 1). Extracted data include: study and intervention characteristics, including target population, state, sample size, time of intervention implementation (intake, post-release, civil commitment, during incarceration, post-release, pre-release), implementation setting (jail, civil commitment facility, prison, transitions clinic), study design (case report, chart review, cohort, pilot study, randomized control trial), type of opioid intervention (buprenorphine, methadone, withdrawal management, XR-NTX, patient navigation, cross-sector collaboration), comparator, whether and how SDOH were addressed in the intervention (e.g. support for housing, transportation, financing medical care, nutrition services, and case management or social services referral to navigate SDOH issues), and study outcomes. Not all outcomes were available for each study.

Table 1. Categorical matrix of systematic review findings.

Authors State Sample size Time of intervention Setting Study design Type of opioid intervention Comparator SDH included Outcomes
Brinkley-Rubinstein et al. (2018) RI 223 During incarceration Prison RCTa MMTb Forced Methadone withdrawal For first appointment only
− Transportation
− Scheduling first MMT appointment
− Financial assistance
12-month follow-up, MMT
− Heroin use less likely, prior 30 days (p = 0.0467)*
− Injection drug use less likely, prior 30 days (p = 0.0033)**
− Non-fatal overdose less likely (7% vs 18%, p = 0.039)*
− Continuous engagement with MMT during 12 month follow-up period* (p = 0.0211)*
Christopher et al. (2018) MA 318 During civil commitment Inpatient Civil Commitment Prospective cohort Civil commitment - None Longer time to relapse positively associated with
− Keeping appointment for medication treatment following commitment (p = 0.017)*
Fox et al. (2014) NY 135 Post-release Transitions Clinic Retrospective cohort BTc - Offered for all clinic patients
− Social work referral
− Nutrition services
− Medicaid enrollment
− Health education
− Care coordination by formerly incarcerated community health worker
6-month outcomes
− Fast median time from release to initial medical visit (10 days).
− Low care retention for opioid dependence (33%).
− Fewer buprenorphine-treated patients reduced opioid use (19%).
− Specifically cites need for SDH intervention and SDH as conflicting health priority.
Fresquez-Chavez & Fogger (2015) NM 55 During incarceration Jail Case report Withdrawal management (clonidine) - None Withdrawal symptom scores (Subjective Opiate Withdrawal Scale)
− Baseline to 1 hour post-treatment (p = .001)***
− Baseline to 4 hours post-treatment (p = .001)***
Gordon et al. (2014) MD 211 Pre-release and Post incarceration Prison RCT, 2x2 factorial In-prison treatment condition 1: BT while incarcerated
Post-release service setting 1:
Opioid treatment program post-incarceration
In-prison treatment condition 2: Counseling only while incarcerated
Post-release service setting 2: Treatment at community health center post-incarceration
− Addressing barriers to community treatment entry (not specified)
− Employment
− Housing
Offered in weekly group sessions provided by the study’s addiction counselor
In-prison treatment condition
− Entering prison treatment more likely (99.0% v 80.4%, p = .006)**
− Community treatment entry (47.5% v 33.7%, p = .012)*
− Women more likely than men to complete prison treatment (85.7% v 52.7%, p<0.001).***
− 89.6% of all participants entered prison treatment
− 40.6% of all participants entered community all treatment
− 62.6% of all participants completed prison treatment
Gordon et al. (2015) MD 27 Pre-release Prison Pilot XR-NTXd - − None 9-month follow-up
− 77.8% of all participants completed prison injections
− 66.7% of all participants received first community injection
− 37% of all participants completed injection cycle
− Completers less likely to use opioids any time during the study vs non completers (p = 0.003).**
Gordon et al. (2017) MD 211 Pre-release and Post incarceration Prison RCT, 2x2 factorial In-prison treatment condition 1: Buprenorphine treatment while incarcerated
Post-release service setting 1:
Opioid treatment program post-incarceration
In-prison treatment condition 2: Counseling only while incarcerated
Post-release service setting 2: Treatment at community health center post-incarceration
− Barriers to community treatment entry (not specified)
− Employment
− Housing
− Offered in weekly group sessions provided by the study’s addiction counselor
12 month follow-up
Follow-up to Gordon (2014)
In-prison treatment condition
− Higher mean number of days of community buprenorphine treatment v post-release medication initiation (p = .005)**
− No significant difference in negative urine opioid results of participants who entered community treatment. (p >0.14)
− No statistically significant effects for in-prison treatment condition for days of heroin use. (p >0.14)
Kobayashi et al. (2017) RI 107 During incarceration Prison Pilot Voluntary training, lay-person intranasal naloxone administration, opioid overdose prevention - − None 1-month post-release follow-up
− 1 fatal opioid overdose (of 103 participants)
− 7 participants experienced non-fatal opioids
− 3 of 7 opioids ODs reversed using study-provided naloxone
Lee et al. (2015) NY 34 Post-release Jail Randomized effectiveness trial XR-NTX + counseling and referral intervention Counseling and referral only − None 4-week post-release outcomes
− 15 of 17 participants initiated treatment
− Rates of opioid relapse 4 weeks post-release lower among XR-NTX participants (p<0.004, OR = .08, CI = 1.4–8.5)**
− More negative opioid urine samples in XR-NTX group (p<0.009, OR = 3.5, CI = 1.4–8.5)**
− No significant difference in rates of overdose
− No significant difference in participanion in other community drug treatment (19 v 12%)
aSmall sample size
aSeveral measures relied on self-report
Morse et al. (2017) NY 200 Post-release Transitions Clinic Chart review BT - SDOH included in the Transitions Clinic model, but not measured for this chart review. − Thirty (70%) of the 38 women in sample with opioid use disorder received methadone or suboxone.
Prendergast, McCollister, & Warda (2017) CA 732 During Incarceration Jail RCT SBIRTe Drug and alcohol, HIV risk information + program list of local providers − None
− No significant difference in change in opioid risk between SBIRT and control group (p = 0.13)
− No significant difference in attending outpatient treatment, past 12 months (p = 0.49)
− No significant difference for any primary or secondary outcomes between groups.
Rich et al. (2015) RI 223 Intake Prison RCT Continued MMT post-release Methadone taper Transportation,
Scheduling
− Financial assistance
− With first methadone treatment appointment only
1 month post-release follow-up
− Of participants assigned to continued MMT post-release, 97% (n = 111) attended community methadone clinic vs. 71% (n = 77) of participants assigned to methadone taper (p<0.0001)***
− MMT participants twice as likely to return to community methadone clinic within 1 month post-release (Hazard risk = 2.04, 95% CI = 1.48–2.80)
− N = 1 mortality (Continued MMT group), no significant difference
− N = 1 non-fatal overdose in continued MMT group, n = 2 in methadone taper group (p = 0.423)
Vocci et al. (2015) MD 104 During Incarceration Prison RCT BT No BT − None 10 weeks post-therapy initiation
62% of participants (n = 63) remained on BT at release from prison
− 50% of participants completed 10 weeks of treatment (n = 60).
− Suggest that buprenorphine administered to non-opioid-tolerant adults should be started at a lower, individualized dose than customarily used for adults actively using opioids.

a RCT = randomized controlled trial

b MMT = methadone Maintenance Treatment

c BT = buprenorphine treatment

d XR-NTX = injectable extended-release naltrexone

e Screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment

* p ≤ 0.05

** p ≤ 0.01

*** p ≤ 0.001

Results

In the initial keyword search in PubMed, 6,604 citations were identified. After applying filters, 993 publications met the preliminary screen. From those, we identified 45 full-text articles through the abstract and title screen. Finally, through full review, we identified 13 publications that met all inclusion criteria (Fig 1).

Fig 1. PRISMA Systematic Review Diagram.

Fig 1

Adapted from:Moher D, Liberati A, Tetzlaff J, Altman DG, The PRISMA Group (2009). Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses: The PRISMA Statement. PLoS Med 6(7): e1000097. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed1000097.

Of the 32 publications removed from consideration, 14 were removed because they described studies that were not interventions, six were not implemented as part of criminal justice involvement, seven were not opioid-specific, one was not exclusively for people who are involved in the criminal justice system, and three were removed because the outcomes measured did not meet inclusion criteria. Fig 1 provides additional details in a PRISMA diagram. Of the 13 publications included for final synthesis, some included continuation studies, leaving 12 distinct interventions.

The majority of interventions were implemented in prisons (n = 6 interventions, 7 publications) [3642] and jails (n = 3) [4345]. The remainder were implemented in Transitions Clinics (n = 2) [46,47] or in a civil commitment facility (n = 1) [48]. Results are described in Table 1 and tabulated in Table 2.

Table 2. Tabulated results of systematic review categorical matrix, by number of publications and interventions.

Variable Publications
n
Interventions
n
State
        California 1 1
        Maryland 4 3
        Massachusetts 1 1
        New Mexico 1 1
        New York 3 3
        Rhode Island 3 3
Time of intervention
        Civil commitment 1 1
        Intake 1 1
        During Incarceration 5 5
        Pre-release 1 1
        Post-release 3 3
        Pre- and Post-release 2 1
Implementation setting
        Inpatient civil commitment facility 1 1
        Jail 3 3
        Prison 7 6
        Transitions Clinic 2 2
Study design
        Case report 1 1
        Chart review 1 1
        Retrospective cohort 1 1
        Prospective cohort 1 1
        Pilot study 2 2
        Randomized control trial 6 5
        Randomized effectiveness trial 1 1
Type of opioid intervention
        Buprenorphine Treatment 5 4
        Civil commitment 1 1
        Clonidine withdrawal management 1 1
        Extended-release Naltrexone (XR-NTX) 2 2
        Methadone maintenance treatment 2 2
        Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment 1 1
        XR-NTX training 1 1
Social Determinants of Health
        Addressed* 5 5
        Not addressed 8 8
        Housing, employment, barriers to treatment 2 1
        Social work referral, nutrition services, Medicaid enrollment, health education, care coordination 1 1
        Barriers to community treatment entry, employment, housing 2 1

Number of publications and interventions differ as two publications described outcomes of the same intervention at different follow-up periods.

Interventions primarily involved evidence-based medication treatments (n = 9 interventions, 10 publications) [3639,4144,46,47] the majority of which utilized buprenorphine (n = 4 interventions, 5 publications) [37,39,42,46,47], methadone (n = 2)[36,41], or (XR-NTX) (n = 2) [38,44]. One intervention used withdrawal management with clonidine as a non-opioid method of aiding newly incarcerated people who use opioids in a New Mexico county jail [43]. There was a distinction between XR-NTX studies and other pharmacological interventions. XR-NTX improved outcomes, though XR-NTX is administered only immediately prior to release rather than during incarceration [38,44].

Two studies focused on opioid overdose fatality prevention including a pilot of a voluntary intranasal naloxone administration [38] and training for people incarcerated in a Rhode Island prison [40]. The only non-pharmaceutical intervention study examined the effects of Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for OUD [45].

Three of the twelve interventions included social determinants-related components as part of either the study design or implementation [36,37,39,41,46]. Several publications alluded to SDOH as a barrier to receiving care, but only three provided any social determinants-related support as part of the intervention. One intervention offered transportation, scheduling assistance, and financial assistance for participants’ first methadone treatment appointment post-incarceration [36,41]. Another intervention offered counseling on barriers to community treatment entry, employment post-incarceration, and housing post-incarceration in weekly group sessions provided by the study’s addiction counselor [37,39]. The third study described SDOH support programs offered to all patients of the Transitions Clinic intervention, which included: referrals to social work services, nutrition services, Medicaid enrollment, health education, and care coordination by a formerly incarcerated community health worker [46].

Interventions that included evidence-based medication treatments (i.e., buprenorphine, methadone, XR-NTX) yielded improvements in outcomes of interest, especially in studies that measured post-incarceration connection to community treatment and continuation of treatment [3639,4144,46,47]. Significance of results for health outcomes was fairly consistent across medication types (methadone, buprenorphine, XR-NTX), though time of treatment initiation was associated with intervention success. In general, the effectiveness and long-term impact of methadone and buprenorphine treatment interventions on non-fatal overdose, overdose mortality, post-release opioid use, and seeking and maintaining treatment post-incarceration were associated with early initiation during incarceration and consistent treatment during incarceration [3639,4244].

Relative to controls, one intervention (SBIRT) yielded no significant difference in outcomes. Another, a Transitions Clinic found that care retention and opioid use reduction were low and specifically cited a need for social determinants support as part of care, as many of their patients had competing social determinants-related priorities [46].

Discussion

In a systematic review of the evidence, we identified a range of evidence-based options to support people with OUD who are incarcerated or recently released from incarceration in the U.S. In reviewed studies, MOUD had significant beneficial impacts on outcomes when treatment was initiated early in criminal justice system involvement and maintained throughout incarceration. While several interventions did integrate social determinants components, these were included in only a minority of interventions reviewed. Results of studies presented in this review is consistent with the current evidence-base regarding MOUD and incarceration, and SDOH as a potential barrier to good health outcomes post-release. However, this review reveals that a gap at the intersection of MOUD, incarceration, and SDOH persists. There is a substantial opportunity to incorporate SDOH into interventions to support the health and well-being of critically at-risk populations who are incarcerated or have been recently released.

Mass incarceration and the opioid epidemic are simultaneously salient crises, but are often considered separately from one another. As criminal justice reform and the opioid epidemic converge in national policy discourse, U.S. policy-makers must support and fund rigorous research and programmatic evaluation to identify methods of addressing SDOH to support OUD treatment among justice-involved people. Altogether, implementing policy and evidence-based programs that simultaneously prioritize SDOH management and OUD treatment is paramount to narrowing the health and social disparities supported by mass incarceration of the last 40 years in the U.S.

Studies included in this review reported clinical interventions typically using medication-based treatments. However, new studies are implementing non-clinical strategies to fortify both interpersonal and cross-sectoral relationships. Such non-clinical strategies may serve as a complementary solution to medication treatment either in carceral facilities with policies that restrict MOUD options such as buprenorphine or post-release. For instance, the Bronx Transitions Clinic has proposed several new initiatives to complement current services [46]. Such programs include a peer-mentorship program and support groups to encourage positive coping skills [46].

For cross-sectoral relationships, the MAT Implementation in Community Correctional Environments (MATICCE) study sought to strengthen referral and treatment continuation relationships through corrections-community partnerships [49]. MATICCE tested implementation strategies for connecting correctional agencies and incarcerated people approaching release with evidence-based treatment services that already existed in their communities [49]. MATICCE established 20 Department of Corrections (DoC)-community dyads in 11 states, which were then tasked with creating ways of making and fortifying inter-organizational relationships and familiarizing Department of Corrections staff with MOUD [49]. This approach simultaneously avoided expanding agencies’ responsibilities, facilitated alignment of state and facility policies, and encouraged dyads to create their own solutions to building inter-organizational relationships. Though results were mixed, future studies with inter-agency collaboration designs may refine on this first iteration. Further work may establish additional evidence-informed collaborative alternatives to complement more prevalent corrections-only rehabilitative programming. Bolstering community capacities and establishing and fortifying existing community-based services may enhance both the community and the long-term success of formerly incarcerated people.

Limitations

This review has several limitations. We may not have identified some pilot programs initiated by county, state, or federal departments of corrections, health departments, or community organizations because we searched only the academic literature. This review does not include programs currently implemented by respective criminal justice systems or facilities. Some existing interventions may not have publicly available evaluations. Further, carceral facilities and systems can vary significantly, even within the same county or state and so studies may not be generalizable to other settings.

Recommendations

Based on this systematic review, we recommend that future interventions for OUD among justice-involved people specifically include attention to understanding and addressing the impacts of SDOH on post-incarceration health outcomes. We further recommend implementing process and outcomes evaluations for new incarceration-based or post-incarceration programs to address OUD. We strongly suggest that formerly incarcerated individuals, particularly those who have been treated successfully for OUD, participate in program design and evaluation to maximize potential utility and end-user relevance.

Recent changes in state legislature and federal discourse have started to address the intersections of OUD and social determinants among justice-involved people [1517, 1921]. Future studies should assess the impacts of innovative state-level programming for OUD treatment among formerly incarcerated people. Additionally, to better understand current and best practices, future efforts should focus on describing the national landscape of available OUD and social determinants programs as well as their compatibility for mutual integration.

Conclusion

This systematic review of interventions for OUD implemented as part of US criminal justice system involvement synthesized results from several innovative pilot programs and study interventions. The interest in opioid-specific programs and interventions for people involved in the criminal justice system is rising, but more research is needed to understand the key role that addressing SDOH could play in contributing to improved health outcomes. The existing evidence base suggests that medication treatments such as buprenorphine and methadone should administered early in incarceration and continued for the duration of incarceration, particularly for those in prison. Although SDOH were frequently noted as a potential competing priority to engaging in treatment, few interventions to-date have addressed SDOH in the intervention or study design. Those that did include SDOH cited competing priorities as a major determinant of treatment initiation and adherence. Through individual-level interventions or building strong cross-sector collaborations, future interventions for incarcerated people with OUD should integrate medication treatments with interventions to address social determinants of health.

Supporting information

S1 Table. PRISMA checklist.

Completed PRISMA Checklist.

(DOC)

Data Availability

All relevant data are within the manuscript.

Funding Statement

The authors received no specific funding for this work. Schwartz Law Firm, LLC provided support in the form of salaries for authors [TB], but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.

References

  • 1.World Prison Brief Institute for Criminal Policy Research. Highest to lowest—Prison population rate [Internet]. [cited 23 Oct 2018]. Available: http://www.prisonstudies.org/highest-to-lowest/prison_population_rate?field_region_taxonomy_tid=All
  • 2.Binswanger IA, Blatchford PJ, Mueller SR, Stern MF. Mortality after prison release: Opioid overdose and other causes of death, risk factors, and time trends from 1999 to 2009. Ann Intern Med. American College of Physicians; 2013;159: 592 10.7326/0003-4819-159-9-201311050-00005 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 3.Binswanger IA, Stern MF, Deyo RA, Heagerty PJ, Cheadle A, Elmore JG, et al. Release from prison—A high risk of death for former inmates. N Engl J Med. 2007;356: 157–165. 10.1056/NEJMsa064115 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 4.Scheyett A, Parker S, Golin C, White B, Davis CP, Wohl D. HIV-infected prison inmates: Depression and implications for release back to communities. AIDS Behav. NIH Public Access; 2010;14: 300–7. 10.1007/s10461-008-9443-8 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 5.Dumont DM, Gjelsvik A, Redmond N, Rich JD. Jails as public health partners: Incarceration and disparities among medically underserved men. 2013; 10.3149/jmh.1203.213 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 6.Maruschak LM, Bronson J. HIV in prisons, 2015—Statistical tables [Internet]. 2017. Available: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/hivp15st.pdf
  • 7.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Viral hepatitis surveillance—United States, 2015 [Internet]. 2015. Available: https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nndss/conditions/
  • 8.Maruschak LM, Berzofsky M, Unangst J. Special report: Medical problems of state and federal prisoners and jail inmates, 2011–12 [Internet]. 2015. Available: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/mpsfpji1112.pdf
  • 9.Bronson J, Stroop J, Statisticians B, Zimmer S, Berzofsky M. Drug use, dependence, and abuse among state prisoners and jail inmates, 2007–2009 [Internet]. 2007. Available: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/dudaspji0709.pdf
  • 10.Bronson J, Berzofsky M. Indicators of mental health problems reported by prisoners and jail inmates, 2011–12 [Internet]. Available: https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/imhprpji1112.pdf
  • 11.Pizzicato LN, Drake R, Domer-Shank R, Johnson CC, Viner KM. Beyond the walls: Risk factors for overdose mortality following release from the Philadelphia Department of Prisons. Drug Alcohol Depend. Elsevier; 2018;189: 108–115. 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.04.034 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 12.Ranapurwala SI, Shanahan ME, Alexandridis AA, Proescholdbell SK, Naumann RB, Edwards D, et al. Opioid overdose mortality among former North Carolina inmates: 2000–2015. Am J Public Health. 2018;108: 1207–1213. 10.2105/AJPH.2018.304514 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 13.Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Medication and counseling treatment. In: SAMHSA.gov [Internet]. 2019 [cited 4 Oct 2019]. Available: https://www.samhsa.gov/medication-assisted-treatment/treatment#medications-used-in-mat
  • 14.Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Substance abuse treatment for adults in the criminal justice system. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 44. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 12–4056 [Internet]. Rockville, MD; 2005. Available: https://store.samhsa.gov/system/files/sma13-4056.pdf
  • 15.Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Use of Medication-Assisted Treatment for opioid use disorder in criminal justice settings. HHS Publication No. PEP19-MATUSECJS [Internet]. Rockville, Maryland; 2019. Available: https://store.samhsa.gov/system/files/guide_4-0712_final_-_section_508_compliant.pdf
  • 16.Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) in the criminal justice system: Brief guidance to the states. HHS Publication No. PEP19-MATBRIEFCJS [Internet]. Available: https://store.samhsa.gov/system/files/pep19-matbriefcjs.pdf
  • 17.National Sheriff’s Association, National Commission on Correctional Health. Jail-based Medication-Assisted Treatment [Internet]. 2018. Available: https://www.sheriffs.org/publications/Jail-Based-MAT-PPG.pdf
  • 18.No. 19–1340 Brenda Smith v. Aroostook County; Shawn D. Gillen. 2019.
  • 19.American Society of Addiction Medicine. The ASAM national practice guideline for the use of medications in the treatment of addiction involving opioid abuse [Internet]. 2015. Available: https://www.asam.org/docs/default-source/practice-support/guidelines-and-consensus-docs/asam-national-practice-guideline-supplement.pdf [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed]
  • 20.Vestal C. New momentum for addiction treatment behind bars. PEW. 4 Apr 2018. Available: https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2018/04/04/new-momentum-for-addiction-treatment-behind-bars
  • 21.Mallik-Kane K, Paddock E, Jannetta J. Health care after incarceration: How do formerly incarcerated men choose where and when to access physical and behavioral health services? [Internet]. Washington, D.C.; 2018. Available: https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/96386/health_care_after_incarceration.pdf
  • 22.Raimondo GM. Executive Order 17–07 Taking further actions to address the opioid crisis [Internet]. Governor, State of Rhode Island; 2017. Available: http://www.governor.ri.gov/documents/orders/ExecOrder-17-07-07122017.pdf
  • 23.Dong KR, Must A, Tang AM, Beckwith CG, Stopka TJ. Competing priorities that rival health in adults on probation in Rhode Island: Substance use recovery, employment, housing, and food intake. BMC Public Health. BioMed Central; 2018;18 10.1186/S12889-018-5201-7 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 24.Blankenship KM, Del Rio Gonzalez AM, Keene DE, Groves AK, Rosenberg AP. Mass incarceration, race inequality, and health: Expanding concepts and assessing impacts on well-being. Soc Sci Med. NIH Public Access; 2018;215: 45–52. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.08.042 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 25.World Health Organization. About social determinants of health [Internet]. WHO. World Health Organization; 2017. Available: https://www.who.int/social_determinants/sdh_definition/en/
  • 26.Nyamathi AM, Srivastava N, Salem BE, Wall S, Kwon J, Ekstrand M, et al. Female ex-offender perspectives on drug initiation, relapse, and desire to remain drug free. J Forensic Nurs. 2016;12: 81–90. 10.1097/JFN.0000000000000110 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 27.Dennis AC, Barrington C, Hino S, Gould M, Wohl D, Golin CE, et al. "You’re in a world of chaos": Experiences accessing HIV care and adhering to medications after incarceration HHS Public Access. J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care. 2015;26: 542–555. 10.1016/j.jana.2015.06.001 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 28.Westergaard RP, Spaulding AC, Flanigan TP. HIV among persons incarcerated in the USA: a review of evolving concepts in testing, treatment, and linkage to community care. Curr Opin Infect Dis. NIH Public Access; 2013;26: 10–6. 10.1097/QCO.0b013e32835c1dd0 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 29.Couloute L. Nowhere to go: Homelessness among formerly incarcerated people. Prison Policy Initiative. 2018. Available: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/housing.html [Google Scholar]
  • 30.Couloute L, Kopf D. Out of prison and out of work: Unemployment among formerly incarcerated people. Prison Policy Initiative. 2018. Available: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/outofwork.html [Google Scholar]
  • 31.Trotter RT, Lininger MR, Camplain R, Fofanov VY, Camplain C, Baldwin JA, et al. A survey of health disparities, social determinants of health, and converging morbidities in a county jail: A cultural-ecological assessment of health conditions in jail populations. Int J Environ Res Public Health Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (MDPI); 2018;15 10.3390/ijerph15112500 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 32.Hedrich D, Alves P, Farrell M, Stöver H, Møller L, Mayet S. The effectiveness of opioid maintenance treatment in prison settings: A systematic review. Addiction. 2012;107: 501–517. 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2011.03676.x [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 33.Liberati A, Altman DG, Tetzlaff J, Mulrow C, Gøtzsche PC, Ioannidis JPA, et al. The PRISMA statement for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses of studies that evaluate health care interventions: Explanation and elaboration. PLoS Med. 2009;6: e1000100 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000100 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 34.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Drug overdose deaths hit record numbers in 2014. CDC Newsroom. 18 Dec 2015.
  • 35.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. About the epidemic. In: hhs.gov [Internet]. 2019 [cited 9 Oct 2019]. Available: https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/index.html
  • 36.Brinkley-Rubinstein L, McKenzie M, Macmadu A, Larney S, Zaller N, Dauria E, et al. A randomized, open label trial of methadone continuation versus forced withdrawal in a combined US prison and jail: Findings at 12 months post-release. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2018;184: 57–63. 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2017.11.023 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 37.Gordon MS, Kinlock TW, Schwartz RP, Fitzgerald TT, O’Grady KE, Vocci FJ. A randomized controlled trial of prison-initiated buprenorphine: Prison outcomes and community treatment entry. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2014;142: 33–40. 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2014.05.011 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 38.Gordon MS, Kinlock TW, Vocci FJ, Fitzgerald TT, Memisoglu A, Silverman B. A phase 4, pilot, open-label study of VIVITROL® (Extended-Release Naltrexone XR-NTX) for prisoners. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2015;59: 52–58. 10.1016/j.jsat.2015.07.005 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 39.Gordon MS, Kinlock TW, Schwartz RP, O’Grady KE, Fitzgerald TT, Vocci FJ. A randomized clinical trial of buprenorphine for prisoners: Findings at 12-months post-release. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2017;172: 34–42. 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.11.037 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 40.Kobayashi L, Green TC, Bowman SE, Ray MC, Mckenzie MS, Rich JD, et al. Patient simulation for assessment of layperson management of opioid overdose with intranasal naloxone in a recently released prisoner cohort. 2017;12: 22–27. 10.1097/SIH.0000000000000182 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 41.Rich JD, McKenzie M, Larney S, Wong JB, Tran L, Clarke J, et al. Methadone continuation versus forced withdrawal on incarceration in a combined US prison and jail: A randomised, open-label trial. Lancet. 2015;386: 350–359. 10.1016/S0140-6736(14)62338-2 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 42.Vocci FJ, Schwartz RP, Wilson ME, Gordon MS, Kinlock TW, Fitzgerald TT, et al. Buprenorphine dose induction in non-opioid-tolerant pre-release prisoners. HHS Public Access. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2015;156: 133–138. 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.09.001 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 43.Fresquez-Chavez KR, Fogger S. Reduction of opiate withdrawal symptoms with use of clonidine in a county jail. J Correct Heal Care. 2015;21: 27–34. 10.1177/1078345814557630 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 44.Lee JD, McDonald R, Grossman E, McNeely J, Laska E, Rotrosen J, et al. Opioid treatment at release from jail using extended-release naltrexone: A pilot proof-of-concept randomized effectiveness trial. Addiction. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd (10.1111); 2015;110: 1008–1014. 10.1111/add.12894 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 45.Prendergast ML, Mccollister K, Warda U, Prendergast M. A randomized study of the use of Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) for drug and alcohol use with jail inmates. HHS Public Access. J Subst Abus Treat. 2017;74: 54–64. 10.1016/j.jsat.2016.12.011 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 46.Fox AD, Anderson MR, Bartlett G, Valverde J, Starrels JL, Cunningham CO. Health outcomes and retention in care following release from prison for patients of an urban post-incarceration transitions clinic. NIH Public Access. J Heal Care Poor Underserved. 2014;25: 1139–1152. 10.1353/hpu.2014.0139 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 47.Morse DS, Wilson JL, Mcmahon JM, Dozier AM, Quiroz A, Cerulli C. Does a primary health clinic for formerly incarcerated women increase linkage to care?. HHS Public Access. Womens Heal Issues. 2017;27: 499–508. 10.1016/j.whi.2017.02.003 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 48.Christopher PP, Anderson B, Stein MD. Civil commitment experiences among opioid users. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2018;193: 137–141. 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.10.001 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  • 49.Welsh WN, Knudsen HK, Knight K, Ducharme L, Pankow J, Urbine T, et al. Effects of an organizational linkage intervention on inter-organizational service coordination between probation/parole agencies and community treatment providers. Adm Policy Ment Heal Ment Heal Serv Res. 2016;43: 105–121. 10.1007/s10488-014-0623-8 [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Decision Letter 0

Becky L Genberg

Transfer Alert

This paper was transferred from another journal. As a result, its full editorial history (including decision letters, peer reviews and author responses) may not be present.

5 Sep 2019

PONE-D-19-17598

Interventions for incarcerated adults with opioid use disorder in the United States: A systematic review with a focus on social determinants of health

PLOS ONE

Dear Ms. Sugarman,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Reviewer concerns highlight some discrepancies between the studies as presented and summarized and the evidence, in particular with respect to naltrexone. In addition there is a significant lack of detail on the methods, which make interpretation of the findings of the study difficult in context of the literature reviewed.  Finally the emphasis on social determinants is not fully justified -- the predominant interventions for this issue are related to MAT. In fact there is now legislation in several states mandating the continuation of MAT for those incarcerated. 

We would appreciate receiving your revised manuscript by Oct 20 2019 11:59PM. When you are ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter.

To enhance the reproducibility of your results, we recommend that if applicable you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io, where a protocol can be assigned its own identifier (DOI) such that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

  • A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). This letter should be uploaded as separate file and labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.

  • A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. This file should be uploaded as separate file and labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.

  • An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. This file should be uploaded as separate file and labeled 'Manuscript'.

Please note while forming your response, if your article is accepted, you may have the opportunity to make the peer review history publicly available. The record will include editor decision letters (with reviews) and your responses to reviewer comments. If eligible, we will contact you to opt in or out.

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Becky L. Genberg

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Journal Requirements:

When submitting your revision, we need you to address these additional requirements.

1. Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming. The PLOS ONE style templates can be found at

http://www.journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=wjVg/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_main_body.pdf and http://www.journals.plos.org/plosone/s/file?id=ba62/PLOSOne_formatting_sample_title_authors_affiliations.pdf

2. Thank you for stating the following in the Competing Interests section: "The authors have declared that no competing interests exist."

We note that one or more of the authors are employed by a commercial company:Todd Bruno Law company.

  1. Please provide an amended Funding Statement declaring this commercial affiliation, as well as a statement regarding the Role of Funders in your study. If the funding organization did not play a role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript and only provided financial support in the form of authors' salaries and/or research materials, please review your statements relating to the author contributions, and ensure you have specifically and accurately indicated the role(s) that these authors had in your study. You can update author roles in the Author Contributions section of the online submission form.

Please also include the following statement within your amended Funding Statement.

“The funder provided support in the form of salaries for authors [insert relevant initials], but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.”

If your commercial affiliation did play a role in your study, please state and explain this role within your updated Funding Statement.

2. Please also provide an updated Competing Interests Statement declaring this commercial affiliation along with any other relevant declarations relating to employment, consultancy, patents, products in development, or marketed products, etc.  

Within your Competing Interests Statement, please confirm that this commercial affiliation does not alter your adherence to all PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials by including the following statement: "This does not alter our adherence to  PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.” (as detailed online in our guide for authors http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/competing-interests) . If this adherence statement is not accurate and  there are restrictions on sharing of data and/or materials, please state these. Please note that we cannot proceed with consideration of your article until this information has been declared.

Please include both an updated Funding Statement and Competing Interests Statement in your cover letter. We will change the online submission form on your behalf.

Please know it is PLOS ONE policy for corresponding authors to declare, on behalf of all authors, all potential competing interests for the purposes of transparency. PLOS defines a competing interest as anything that interferes with, or could reasonably be perceived as interfering with, the full and objective presentation, peer review, editorial decision-making, or publication of research or non-research articles submitted to one of the journals. Competing interests can be financial or non-financial, professional, or personal. Competing interests can arise in relationship to an organization or another person. Please follow this link to our website for more details on competing interests: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/competing-interests

3. Please include captions for your Supporting Information files at the end of your manuscript, and update any in-text citations to match accordingly. Please see our Supporting Information guidelines for more information: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/supporting-information.

[Note: HTML markup is below. Please do not edit.]

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: N/A

**********

3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

**********

5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Generally good work.

Line comments

18: insert “post-release” before “fatalities”

31: the studies reviewed include those delivered to persons on probation. Individuals on probation might never have been incarcerated. Perhaps say “throughout the period of criminal justice involvement” instead of “through incarceration” which parallels the language in lines 21-22 as to the actual scope of your study.

32: again, insert “post-release” before “outcomes”

34: delete “participants” and substitute “justice involved individuals” or an equivalent phrase since the studies cover both formerly incarcerated individuals and probationers and parolees.

47: insert “or justice-involved” after “formerly incarcerated”

54: insert “after release” after the word “overall”

59: change “from” to “through”

99: delete “the raw” and change to “these”

Table 1: review entries under Summary of Findings and fix any language errors. E.g., Rich 2015 line 2 should likely read “participants assigned to MMT attended” or whatever acronym is used in the article for methadone maintenance therapy.

148-156: The paragraph appears to accurately reflect what the individual studies showed. However, XR-NTX does not have as wonderful a track record as implied in the Gordon and particularly the Lee studies. Lee’s November 2017 study – outside the scope of the review – tells a truer story than his 2015 study (which, should be noted, was funded in part by Alkermes, the aggressive drug maker that is spending a lot of money to make sure it’s drug is the drug of choice for prison and other justice settings. They have successfully lobbied to state laws changed so that drug courts can only offer XR-NTX to participants. As administrators at places like RI DOC know, where all three approved MOUD treatments are offered, most individuals prefer Buprenorphrine. Substantially fewer choose XR-NTX. Which is the conclusion of Josh’s 2017 study, available at https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)32812-X/fulltext. Take a look at the summary of findings there. Mike Gordon’s study is more robust, but has a small N (37). In any event, the last sentence of this paragraph doesn’t apply to XR-NTX since it is always and only administered immediately prior to release.

225-227: It is crystal clear that addressing SDH is critically important to successful post-release reintegration. Housing, employment, family and community reconnection, etc.: all present competing reentry and survival needs that often trump health needs, including recovery and treatment for SUD. All of the articles about Transitions Clinics address this fact. In any event, I would change the second part of this sentence to read something like: “but more research is needed to understand the key role that addressing SDH could play in contributing to long-term recovery and improved health outcomes….”

227-229: This sentence may be true, but not for XR-NTX.

Reviewer #2: The manuscript (MS) addresses the important topic of opioid use disorder (OUD) among incarcerated adults. The MS is, for the most part well-written but, requires additional explication of rationale and methods (see below).

First, the Introduction highlights the problem of mass incarceration in the U.S., the high rates and commonly fatal outcomes of untreated OUD among those incarcerated, and the impact of incarceration on social determinants of health (SDH). However, the MS does not refer to any – or whether there have been any – reviews already conducted on these topics. Identifying other relevant reviews (if any), their findings, and how the current study may add to this literature would aid in identifying a rationale for this study.

This reviewer finds the MS’s treatment of intervention “outcomes” most problematic. Outcomes are vaguely defined throughout the MS. The purpose of the review (stated on p. 5, ln. 63) does not specify outcomes of interest. The Methods section only states that “a summary of findings” (p. 6, ln. 95) were extracted from eligible studies. There is no indication of how study outcomes were considered in determining study eligibility. This contributes to considerable confusion when reading on page seven (ln 111) that one study was removed from the review “because opioid-related measures were not used as an outcome” and again in the Results section (p. 13, ln. 149) that both opioid use-related outcomes and justice-related outcomes were evaluated. Continuing with this concern, on the same page (ln. 164), the Discussion summarizes that this review found “in reviewed studies, medication treatments for OUD had significant beneficial impacts on outcomes when…” Outcomes should again be specified here.

While mentioned under Limitations (p. 15), the Methods section should explicitly indicate that the grey literature or contact with study authors for additional studies were not pursued as part of this review.

The Methods section does not provide any information with which readers can determine the reliability of data extraction. Were data extracted independently by investigators and then compared? Was a data extraction tool/form used?

The Methods section indicates only studies published within the last five years were eligible for study inclusion. It is unclear why this five-year period was chosen (why not four years or seven years or other?).

Table 1 should provide follow-up periods evaluated among the included studies.

It is unclear why the Discussion section chooses to highlight the MATICCE study when, according to Table 1, opioid use-related outcomes and justice-related outcomes were not reported as findings from that study (see comment related to Outcomes above).

The Discussion would benefit from a summary of study findings on the strength of current evidence on the topic reviewed.

**********

6. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

[NOTE: If reviewer comments were submitted as an attachment file, they will be attached to this email and accessible via the submission site. Please log into your account, locate the manuscript record, and check for the action link "View Attachments". If this link does not appear, there are no attachment files to be viewed.]

While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/. PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email us at figures@plos.org. Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

PLoS One. 2020 Jan 21;15(1):e0227968. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0227968.r002

Author response to Decision Letter 0


20 Oct 2019

Responses to the Editors:

Reviewer concerns highlight some discrepancies between the studies as presented and summarized and the evidence, in particular with respect to naltrexone. In addition there is a significant lack of detail on the methods, which make interpretation of the findings of the study difficult in context of the literature reviewed.

-We thank the reviewers for these comments and agree that clarification will be helpful to readers. We made several revisions to respond to these particular issues, described in detail below.

Finally the emphasis on social determinants is not fully justified -- the predominant interventions for this issue are related to MAT. In fact there is now legislation in several states mandating the continuation of MAT for those incarcerated.

-We agree that additional clarification and justification of the emphasis on social determinants is warranted and we have added it to the introduction.

-Revised - Beyond MOUD treatment itself, social determinants of health (SDOH) are critical elements related to health outcomes post-release [23–25]. SDOH, as defined by the World Health Organization, are non-clinical factors including the “conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. These circumstances are shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national, and local levels.” [26] Examples include housing, transportation, socioeconomic status. Addressing SDOH and attaining health care are often interrelated difficulties and conflicting priorities for formerly incarcerated people [23–25, 27–29]. Difficulty procuring employment, transportation or housing, for example, may pose immediate threats to well-being, making seeking health care services a lower priority [23–25, 30–32]. The status or identifier of “formerly incarcerated” or “justice-involved” also severely restricts access to money, power, and resources. Many employment and housing applications require disclosing justice involvement, which may serve as a deterrent for potential employers, landlords, or loan officers, among others [30, 31]. (p.4 lines 75-87).

To enhance the reproducibility of your results, we recommend that if applicable you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io, where a protocol can be assigned its own identifier (DOI) such that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols

-Thank you for connecting us to this resource. We have deposited our protocol in protocols.io. The protocol can be found at: dx.doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.69zhh76.

1. Please ensure that your manuscript meets PLOS ONE's style requirements, including those for file naming.

-Style and formatting changes have been made per the PLOS ONE requirements.

2. Thank you for stating the following in the Competing Interests section: "The authors have declared that no competing interests exist."

We note that one or more of the authors are employed by a commercial company: Todd Bruno Law company.

1. Please provide an amended Funding Statement declaring this commercial affiliation, as well as a statement regarding the Role of Funders in your study. If the funding organization did not play a role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript and only provided financial support in the form of authors' salaries and/or research materials, please review your statements relating to the author contributions, and ensure you have specifically and accurately indicated the role(s) that these authors had in your study. You can update author roles in the Author Contributions section of the online submission form.

-Todd Bruno is the sole proprietor of Todd Bruno Law, LLC. At the time of this set of revisions, Todd Bruno is now employed by and affiliated with Schwartz Law Firm, LLC. Neither of these entities have any commercial interests in this manuscript’s topic. The following statement has been added to the Funding Statement and included in the cover letter accompanying this submission.

The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Schwartz Law Firm, LLC provided support in the form of salaries for authors [TB], but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.

2. Please also provide an updated Competing Interests Statement declaring this commercial affiliation along with any other relevant declarations relating to employment, consultancy, patents, products in development, or marketed products, etc.

Within your Competing Interests Statement, please confirm that this commercial affiliation does not alter your adherence to all PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials by including the following statement: "This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.” (as detailed online in our guide for authors http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/competing-interests) .

-The Competing Interests Statement, updated in the cover letter, contains the statement “This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.”

3. Please include captions for your Supporting Information files at the end of your manuscript, and update any in-text citations to match accordingly. Please see our Supporting Information guidelines for more information: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/supporting-information.

-A Supporting Information heading and accompanying captions are now included at the end of the manuscript. (p.20 line 295)

Reviewer #1: Generally good work.

-We thank the reviewer for the kind words.

Line comments

18: insert “post-release” before “fatalities”

-Revised – “opioids contribute to nearly 1 in 8 post-release fatalities overall” (Line 36)

31: the studies reviewed include those delivered to persons on probation. Individuals on probation might never have been incarcerated. Perhaps say “throughout the period of criminal justice involvement” instead of “through incarceration” which parallels the language in lines 21-22 as to the actual scope of your study.

-Revised – “Evidence supports medication treatment administered throughout the period of criminal justice involvement…” (Line 47-48)

32: again, insert “post-release” before “outcomes”

-Revised – “…as an effective method of improving post-release outcomes in individuals with criminal justice involvement.” (Lines 48-49)

34: delete “participants” and substitute “justice involved individuals” or an equivalent phrase since the studies cover both formerly incarcerated individuals and probationers and parolees.

-Revised – “While few studies included SDOH components, many investigators recognized SDOH needs as competing priorities among justice-involved individuals.” (Lines 49-51).

47: insert “or justice-involved” after “formerly incarcerated”

-Revised – “The status or identifier of “formerly incarcerated” or “justice-involved” also severely restricts access to money, power, and resources.” (Lines 84-85)

54: insert “after release” after the word “overall”

-Revised to include “post-release” as above – “While multifactorial, this high mortality rate was driven largely by opioids, which were involved in approximately 1 in 8 post-release fatalities overall and over half of all overdose deaths [2,3]. (Lines 61-63).

59: change “from” to “through”

-Revised – “To fill this gap, we conducted a systematic review of existing peer-reviewed literature describing interventions for justice-involved people with OUD through a social-determinants lens. (Lines 95-97)

99: delete “the raw” and change to “these”

-Revised – “These After applying filters, 993 publications met the preliminary screen. From those, we identified 45 full-text articles through the abstract and title screen.” (Lines 155-156).

Table 1: review entries under Summary of Findings and fix any language errors. E.g., Rich 2015 line 2 should likely read “participants assigned to MMT attended” or whatever acronym is used in the article for methadone maintenance therapy.

-Please see the revised Table 1.

148-156: The paragraph appears to accurately reflect what the individual studies showed. However, XR-NTX does not have as wonderful a track record as implied in the Gordon and particularly the Lee studies. Lee’s November 2017 study – outside the scope of the review – tells a truer story than his 2015 study (which, should be noted, was funded in part by Alkermes, the aggressive drug maker that is spending a lot of money to make sure it’s drug is the drug of choice for prison and other justice settings. They have successfully lobbied to state laws changed so that drug courts can only offer XR-NTX to participants. As administrators at places like RI DOC know, where all three approved MOUD treatments are offered, most individuals prefer Buprenorphrine. Substantially fewer choose XR-NTX. Which is the conclusion of Josh’s 2017 study, available at https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(17)32812-X/fulltext. Take a look at the summary of findings there. Mike Gordon’s study is more robust, but has a small N (37). In any event, the last sentence of this paragraph doesn’t apply to XR-NTX since it is always and only administered immediately prior to release.

-Thank you for this important information. We have now included a short statement clarifying the differences between XR-NTX and other medication management options.

-“There was a distinction between XR-NTX studies and other pharmacological interventions. XR-NTX improved outcomes, though XR-NTX is administered only immediately prior to release rather than during incarceration [39,45].” (Lines 183-185)

225-227: It is crystal clear that addressing SDH is critically important to successful post-release reintegration. Housing, employment, family and community reconnection, etc.: all present competing reentry and survival needs that often trump health needs, including recovery and treatment for SUD. All of the articles about Transitions Clinics address this fact. In any event, I would change the second part of this sentence to read something like: “but more research is needed to understand the key role that addressing SDH could play in contributing to long-term recovery and improved health outcomes….”

-Revised – “The interest in opioid-specific programs and interventions for people involved in the criminal justice system is rising, but more research is needed to understand the key role that addressing SDOH could play in contributing to improved health outcomes..” (Lines 284-286)

227-229: This sentence may be true, but not for XR-NTX.

-Revised – “The existing evidence base suggests that medication treatments such as buprenorphine and methadone should administered early in incarceration and continued for the duration of incarceration, particularly for those in prison.”

Responses to Reviewer 2:

The manuscript (MS) addresses the important topic of opioid use disorder (OUD) among incarcerated adults. The MS is, for the most part well-written but, requires additional explication of rationale and methods (see below).

First, the Introduction highlights the problem of mass incarceration in the U.S., the high rates and commonly fatal outcomes of untreated OUD among those incarcerated, and the impact of incarceration on social determinants of health (SDH). However, the MS does not refer to any – or whether there have been any – reviews already conducted on these topics. Identifying other relevant reviews (if any), their findings, and how the current study may add to this literature would aid in identifying a rationale for this study.

-We agree with the reviewer that this additional background information would be helpful for readers. We have now revised the introduction to include additional detail. We identified few reviews on these topics. Their findings are included in the text.

-Previous systematic reviews have identified and compared studies of MOUD in prison settings and found treatment while incarcerated to be effective in potentially minimizing overdose risk [33]. Other studies have examined the impact of incarceration and social determinants of health on health outcomes, though we were unable to identify any systematic reviews [23–25, 30–32]. Given the relationships between incarceration, OUD, and social determinants of health, evidence is urgently needed on intersectional interventions to improve outcomes for people who have a history of justice involvement and OUD. (Lines 88-94)

This reviewer finds the MS’s treatment of intervention “outcomes” most problematic. Outcomes are vaguely defined throughout the MS. The purpose of the review (stated on p. 5, ln. 63) does not specify outcomes of interest. The Methods section only states that “a summary of findings” (p. 6, ln. 95) were extracted from eligible studies. There is no indication of how study outcomes were considered in determining study eligibility. This contributes to considerable confusion when reading on page seven (ln 111) that one study was removed from the review “because opioid-related measures were not used as an outcome” and again in the Results section (p. 13, ln. 149) that both opioid use-related outcomes and justice-related outcomes were evaluated. Continuing with this concern, on the same page (ln. 164), the Discussion summarizes that this review found “in reviewed studies, medication treatments for OUD had significant beneficial impacts on outcomes when…” Outcomes should again be specified here.

-Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Outcomes have been clarified and defined in the Methods section. We also attempted to clarify inclusion and exclusion criteria.

We excluded publications if: they described interventional studies that were conducted outside of the United States; the population of interest was under the age of 19; if studies were not interventional (e.g. epidemiological or surveillance studies); or did not investigate primary outcomes of interest. Primary outcomes of interest include: treatment initiation during incarceration, post-release opioid-related mortality, non-fatal overdose, and opioid use (heroin or prescription opioids), treatment initiation in community, adherence to treatment post-release, maintaining treatment post-release (i.e. keeping and attending appointments for treatment), and withdrawal symptoms. (Lines 132-139)

While mentioned under Limitations (p. 15), the Methods section should explicitly indicate that the grey literature or contact with study authors for additional studies were not pursued as part of this review.

-A statement reflecting the absence of grey literature is now included in the Methods section:

“Grey literature and contact with study authors for additional studies were not pursued as part of this review.” (Lines 117-118)

The Methods section does not provide any information with which readers can determine the reliability of data extraction. Were data extracted independently by investigators and then compared? Was a data extraction tool/form used?

-“For the publications included in final review, the data were extracted individually by investigators and then compared. Findings were compiled in a categorical matrix (Table 1).” (Lines 142-143)

Further, a protocol for this review was developed and published on interventions.io to provide additional clarity in identifying texts, data extraction, and analysis.

The Methods section indicates only studies published within the last five years were eligible for study inclusion. It is unclear why this five-year period was chosen (why not four years or seven years or other?).

-Thank you for bringing our attention to this. A statement clarifying the selection was added in the Methods section.

Publications were limited to the last five years as drug overdose mortality peaked in 2014 [35], followed by declaration of opioid use as a public health emergency by the US Department of Health and Human Services in 2017 [36].” (Lines 127-129)

Table 1 should provide follow-up periods evaluated among the included studies.

-Added to Table 1, please see revised table.

It is unclear why the Discussion section chooses to highlight the MATICCE study when, according to Table 1, opioid use-related outcomes and justice-related outcomes were not reported as findings from that study (see comment related to Outcomes above).

-The MATICCE study did not meet inclusion criteria; thank you for pointing this out to us. It has been removed from analysis and the resulting table, figures, and analysis. However, we did want to highlight the MATICCE study as a non-clinical systems level approach to connecting people to treatment post-incarceration.

-“Studies included in this review reported clinical interventions typically using medication-based treatments. However, new studies are implementing non-clinical strategies to fortify both interpersonal and cross-sectoral relationships. Such non-clinical strategies may serve as a complementary solution to medication treatment either in carceral facilities with policies that restrict MOUD options such as buprenorphine or post-release. For instance, the Bronx Transitions Clinic has proposed several new initiatives to complement current services [47]. Such programs include a peer-mentorship program and support groups to encourage positive coping skills [47].

For cross-sectoral relationships, the MAT Implementation in Community Correctional Environments (MATICCE) study sought to strengthen referral and treatment continuation relationships through corrections-community partnerships [50]…” (Lines 235-245)

The Discussion would benefit from a summary of study findings on the strength of current evidence on the topic reviewed.

-Thank you for this suggestion. Please see the revision and addition to the first paragraph of the discussion.

“In a systematic review of the evidence, we identified a range of evidence-based options to support people with OUD who are incarcerated or recently released from incarceration in the U.S. In reviewed studies, MOUD had significant beneficial impacts on outcomes when treatment was initiated early in criminal justice system involvement and maintained throughout incarceration. While several interventions did integrate social determinants components, these were included in only a minority of interventions reviewed. Results of studies presented in this review is consistent with the current evidence-base regarding MOUD and incarceration, and SDOH as a potential barrier to good health outcomes post-release. However, this review reveals that a gap at the intersection of MOUD, incarceration, and SDOH persists. There is a substantial opportunity to incorporate SDOH into interventions to support the health and well-being of critically at-risk populations who are incarcerated or have been recently released.” (Lines 216-226)

Attachment

Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers.pdf

Decision Letter 1

Becky L Genberg

6 Jan 2020

Interventions for incarcerated adults with opioid use disorder in the United States: A systematic review with a focus on social determinants of health

PONE-D-19-17598R1

Dear Dr. Sugarman,

We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it complies with all outstanding technical requirements.

Within one week, you will receive an e-mail containing information on the amendments required prior to publication. When all required modifications have been addressed, you will receive a formal acceptance letter and your manuscript will proceed to our production department and be scheduled for publication.

Shortly after the formal acceptance letter is sent, an invoice for payment will follow. To ensure an efficient production and billing process, please log into Editorial Manager at https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/, click the "Update My Information" link at the top of the page, and update your user information. If you have any billing related questions, please contact our Author Billing department directly at authorbilling@plos.org.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper to enable them to help maximize its impact. If they will be preparing press materials for this manuscript, you must inform our press team as soon as possible and no later than 48 hours after receiving the formal acceptance. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information, please contact onepress@plos.org.

With kind regards,

Becky L. Genberg

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #2: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #3: All comments have been addressed

**********

2. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

3. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: N/A

**********

4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #2: (No Response)

Reviewer #3: The authors have been responsive to the reviewers' critiques. Recommend accept. One small change to consider: the RI department of corrections is a statewide system that does not have a distinction between jail/prison. So, in the table when characterizing the study settings as jail/prison--Ri doesn't really fall into either completely.

**********

7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean?). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy.

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: Yes: Lauren Brinkley-Rubinstein

Acceptance letter

Becky L Genberg

10 Jan 2020

PONE-D-19-17598R1

Interventions for incarcerated adults with opioid use disorder in the United States: A systematic review with a focus on social determinants of health

Dear Dr. Sugarman:

I am pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been deemed suitable for publication in PLOS ONE. Congratulations! Your manuscript is now with our production department.

If your institution or institutions have a press office, please notify them about your upcoming paper at this point, to enable them to help maximize its impact. If they will be preparing press materials for this manuscript, please inform our press team within the next 48 hours. Your manuscript will remain under strict press embargo until 2 pm Eastern Time on the date of publication. For more information please contact onepress@plos.org.

For any other questions or concerns, please email plosone@plos.org.

Thank you for submitting your work to PLOS ONE.

With kind regards,

PLOS ONE Editorial Office Staff

on behalf of

Dr. Becky L. Genberg

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Associated Data

    This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

    Supplementary Materials

    S1 Table. PRISMA checklist.

    Completed PRISMA Checklist.

    (DOC)

    Attachment

    Submitted filename: Response to Reviewers.pdf

    Data Availability Statement

    All relevant data are within the manuscript.


    Articles from PLoS ONE are provided here courtesy of PLOS

    RESOURCES