Jail drug programs save money - and lives
By Ruth Pollard Health Reporter
April 17, 2006
PRISON methadone programs significantly reduce the likelihood of people returning to jail, prevent deaths from overdose and cut transmission of the potentially deadly virus hepatitis C.
The modest cost of jail methadone programs produced significant savings for governments, breaking the cycle of heroin injection, crime and imprisonment, a study released today has found.
When inmates were in treatment for more than eight months, 23 out of every 100 returned to prison in the next year, compared with 97 in every 100 of those who did not receive the opiate substitute. There were more than 900 inmates in 21 NSW jails receiving methadone, at a cost of $2.9 million a year or $3324 per person.
Researchers concluded that the cost of prison methadone was offset by avoiding 20 days of incarceration once the inmate was released, based on the average daily cost of incarceration of $176.
The study, funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, has led calls for the urgent expansion of prison-based methadone programs, with the author, Kate Dolan, from the National Centre for Drug and Alcohol Research, saying it showed the benefits of keeping people out of jail were substantial.
"This means people have not committed a crime, they do not go to prison, and this has an impact on their families … and on the victims of crime," Associate Professor Dolan said.
"We have something that has very good outcomes, is inexpensive and very well accepted among the client group - the methadone program should be supported and expanded."
Programs to increase the continuity of methadone treatment for heroin users as they moved between the community and the prison system were also vital, Professor Dolan said.
"If you are on methadone you are one-third less likely to get hepatitis C … and that is a big saving. It is also decreasing the incidence of injecting and sharing needles, so there is also a large saving in mortality - 17 ex-prisoners who weren't on methadone died, versus none who were on methadone," she said.
The chief executive of Justice Health, Richard Matthews, said arguments in favour of prison methadone programs were "blindingly simple".
"If you want to reduce mortality, reduce the frequency of transmission of hepatitis C and reduce crime for those who are opiate dependent then methadone is your baby, it is the gold standard."
Since 2002, when the study was completed, the number of people in prison on drug treatment programs has increased to 1600, most on methadone, he said.
"We put anywhere between 50 and 100 people [on methadone] in jail in a month and about the same number come off … unfortunately the reality is when they are released and they return to their previous environment, many begin using [drugs]."
Andrew Humpherson, the Opposition justice spokesman, said he had "strong concerns" about the extent of methadone use in jails, and urged consideration of other programs such as abstinence. A spokeswoman for the Minster for Health, John Hatzistergos, said there was no significant unmet demand in the methadone programs in prisons.
