Incarceration Frequency and Carceral SUD Treatment Utilization

• In Event: 30662 - Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 5: Prisons/ Prison-Related/ Experiences in Prisons

Abstract

There has been growing interest in prison populations’ access to substance use treatment in the United States within public health research over the past 20 years. This has coincided with many carceral entities offering rehabilitation services along with punitive measures in an attempt to diminish both substance use and incarceration rates. Despite growing recognition of the need to improve access to substance use treatment for prison populations, little is known about what populations have the least access, or if previous incarceration frequency mediates treatment utilization or mandation. Through utilizing bivariate and multivariate nested regression models this study investigates the association between treatment utilization while incarcerated and incarceration frequency. Individuals with 3+ convictions were shown to have statistically significant increased odds of receiving treatment while incarcerated. The rates of treatment access was also found to be below 50% for all incarceration frequencies, demonstrating low treatment utilization for all groups. These results raise questions about the claims that many carceral systems have made in regards to rehabilitation efforts and have important implications for areas of future policy work and research.

Author

• Alex Michael Wyse, University of California-San Francisco