Published: 6/18/2019 4:34:20 PM
The New Hampshire Department of Corrections will expand its use of medicine in the state’s prisons to assist inmates who are trying to overcome opioid and alcohol use disorders.
The department announced Monday that its health care team has started the expansion at Northern New Hampshire Correctional Facility in Berlin, which opened an intensive structured treatment unit in 2014. Officials said residents of the Berlin facility were screened on June 6 to determine whether they were eligible for the new program.
A total of 23 inmates met the criteria and are now enrolled, the department said. The program will expand to the New Hampshire State Prison for Men in Concord and the New Hampshire Correctional Facility for Women in the near future.
The treatment program aims to help addicts during their period of incarceration and as they prepare for post-release, which requires a transition to community resources.
A State Opioid Response grant from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services is providing most of the funding for the treatment. The grant also provides funding for two additional re-entry care coordinators who will work with inmates diagnosed with substance use disorders at each stage of their release.