NCJ Number
193519
Date Published
2001
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This fact sheet provides information on drug users in the criminal justice system, and discusses the importance of reaching drug users with HIV prevention messages and intervention.
Abstract
This fact sheet includes information on the issue of drugs and the criminal justice system; the need to set key prevention, treatment, and care efforts; and the challenges of addressing the treatment and prevention requirements of substance abusers. At the end of 1999, 3 percent of all U.S. adults were in the criminal justice system. More than one-fourth of all inmates were in prison because of arrests related to using possessing or trafficking in drugs. A significant majority of inmates had serious drug problems. Many also had problems with alcohol. Many inmates were at high risk of becoming infected with HIV, hepatitis, or sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The large number of drug users in the criminal justice system and their high risk of getting and transmitting HIV, STDs, and hepatitis, creates an urgent need for comprehensive substance abuse treatment services, prevention education, expanded care for infected inmates, and improved links between services in prisons and those in the community. Few prison and jail systems have instituted comprehensive programs, and most prevention programs focus on education rather than on behavior change. A number of factors contribute to this gap: priorities and orientations of corrections and public officials are different; correctional testing and treatment policies and data collection systems vary widely; and inmate populations, especially jails, are ethnically diverse and are constantly changing. It is no longer the case that communities can separate themselves from the prisons that are located in their communities. Many ties connect communities with prisons or jails. For one thing, inmates are continually moving back and forth between corrections and the community. It is therefore in the best interest of communities to attend to the prison population by ensuring that inmates get comprehensive substance abuse treatment and health care services.