“The Forest and the Trees”: Understanding Patterns of Drug Use History Among Incarcerated Persons

• In Event: Substance Use and Mental Health Treatment in Correctional Systems: Policy, Practice, and Outcomes

Abstract

Sometimes information collected on individual offenders processing through a criminal justice agency is used only for handling that individual. There is a failure to examine the information for all participants as a group, and as a result some valuable insights are missed. This paper presents some broad findings from two sets of questions asked to newly incarcerated persons (IP) entering the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. The questions concern the frequency of use of 18 different drugs (including alcohol) and the drug that caused the biggest problem for each newly incarcerated IP from May 2019 to March 2025. The information was gathered using the TCU (Texas Christian University) Drug Screen 5. The information, gathered from about 92,500 IP’s, some with multiple TCU’s, shows some drugs increasing in use and others falling. Patterns differ for male and female IP’s. The information can be used to more precisely target substance abuse programming and to inform policy debates and practices in the criminal justice community. Jurisdictions are encouraged to examine the information they collect on individuals to consider whether, when summarized collectively, it may offer policy guidance.

Authors

• Steve Van Dine, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction

• Brian D. Martin, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction