Individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) pass through jails each year, placing correctional facilities at the epicenter of the opioid crisis. Few jails offer the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medications—buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone—that have consistently been shown to be the most effective forms of treatment for OUD when combined with behavioral therapies.
Eight communities are participating in the third Building Bridges demonstration project (2025 sites). The project begins with a 9-month planning process to help these communities implement medication-assisted treatment in their jails and enhance collaboration between jails and community-based treatment providers. After the planning process, each community can receive funding and technical assistance from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), to support projects that increase the capacity of local communities to collaborate across the areas of public safety, behavioral health, and public health. Communities receive coaching and technical assistance from subject-matter experts as part of the project with the aim to develop a comprehensive continuum-of-care model. The continuum-of-care model is designed to build bridges for individuals between in-custody and community-based treatment and supervision, including probation, parole, and court-based programs.
Reducing overdose deaths and recidivism by establishing effective, comprehensive in-custody treatment and maintaining continuity of services from jail to community-based supervision.
Building Bridges Initiative Mobilizes Public Health and Public Safety Teams to Increase Access to Opioid Treatment in Jails
A paradigm shift in the way the nation’s jails treat substance use is not only necessary—up to 63 percent of the U.S. jail population has a substance use disorder but only 22 percent is receiving treatment, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics—it is also taking shape: that was the encouraging message of a March 2024 meeting of the Initiative to Build Bridges to Increase Access to Opioid Use Disorder Treatment in the Nation’s Jails (Building Bridges), a COSSUP demonstration project designed to increase access to opioid treatment in jails.
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Highlights from BJA’s Building Bridges Between Jails and Community-Based Treatment Initiative Inaugural Meeting
On August 13–14, 2019, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)—as part of its Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse (COSSAP) Demonstration Project series and in collaboration with Arnold Ventures and other partners—convened teams from across the nation taking part in the Building Bridges Between Jails and Community-Based Treatment initiative to showcase best practices; share challenges and successes; advance respective sites’ planning processes; and provide the invaluable opportunity to engage with peers. BJA shares this video to spotlight participants’ insights and perspectives with the larger COSSAP community.
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Orleans Reentry Court Program: Persistence, Peers, and Possibilities
The Orleans Reentry Court Program (ORCP) facilitates life-changing opportunities for incoming inmates to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola and equips inmates with vocational, educational, and other skills that could lead to gainful employment, thereby reducing the likelihood of recidivism.
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Substance Use Disorders and Treatment Among Jail Populations: Resources for Corrections Personnel
Jail practitioners and stakeholders asked for training on managing the well-being of inmates with opioid/substance use disorders. This collection of resources includes videos, online learning, and print documents that were screened specifically for corrections officers and other staff. Topics include foundational training on substance use disorders, withdrawal management in custody and MAT, and unique services that people with substance use disorders need as they reenter the community.
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Building Bridges Between Jail and Community-Based Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder: Data Collection, Performance, Outcomes
This webinar presentation by BJA includes a discussion of the types of questions Building Bridges Between Jail and Community-Based Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder communities may want to answer about their projects as well as the performance measures that will be required for sites that may wish to pursue BJA funding, if available in the future. The discussion also includes identification of specific data elements from across the justice and health sectors that sites should consider collecting.
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Medication-Assisted Treatment Inside Correctional Facilities
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s GAINS Center recently developed a brief on addressing medication diversion, particularly for MAT agonist medications, in correctional settings.
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