Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2008 Aug;103(8):1333-42.
doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2008.002238.x.

A randomized clinical trial of methadone maintenance for prisoners: findings at 6 months post-release

Michael S Gordon  1 , Timothy W Kinlock, Robert P Schwartz, Kevin E O'Grady
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

A randomized clinical trial of methadone maintenance for prisoners: findings at 6 months post-release

Michael S Gordon et al. Addiction. 2008 Aug.

Abstract

Aims: This study examined the effectiveness of methadone maintenance initiated prior to or just after release from prison at 6 months post-release.

Design: A three-group randomized controlled trial was conducted between September 2003 and June 2005.

Setting: A Baltimore pre-release prison.

Participants: Two hundred and eleven adult pre-release inmates who were heroin-dependent during the year prior to incarceration.

Intervention: Participants were assigned randomly to the following: counseling only: counseling in prison, with passive referral to treatment upon release (n = 70); counseling + transfer: counseling in prison with transfer to methadone maintenance treatment upon release (n = 70); and counseling + methadone: methadone maintenance and counseling in prison, continued in a community-based methadone maintenance program upon release (n = 71).

Measurements: Addiction Severity Index at study entry and follow-up. Additional assessments at 6 months post-release were treatment record review; urine drug testing for opioids, cocaine and other illicit drugs.

Findings: Counseling + methadone participants were significantly more likely than both counseling only and counseling + transfer participants to be retained in drug abuse treatment (P = 0.0001) and significantly less likely to have an opioid-positive urine specimen compared to counseling only (P = 0.002). Furthermore, counseling + methadone participants reported significantly fewer days of involvement in self-reported heroin use and criminal activity than counseling only participants.

Conclusions: Methadone maintenance, initiated prior to or immediately after release from prison, increases treatment entry and reduces heroin use at 6 months post-release compared to counseling only. This intervention may be able to fill an urgent treatment need for prisoners with heroin addiction histories.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00378079.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Consort diagram of recruitment
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Sabol WJ, Minton TD, Harrison PM. Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2006. Washington, DC: Bureau of Justice Statistics; 2007.
    1. Chaiken JM. Correctional Population of the United States, 1997, no. NCJ 177613. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice; 2000.
    1. Karberg JC, James DJ. Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, NCJ 209588. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice; 2005. Substance Dependence, Abuse, and Treatment of Jail Inmates, 2002.
    1. Hartney C. US Rates of Incarceration: A Global Perspective. Oakland, CA: National Council on Crime and Delinquency; 2006.
    1. Chaiken JM, Chaiken MR. Drugs and predatory crime. In: Tonry M, Wilson JQ, editors. Drugs and Crime (Crime and Justice: A Review of Research) Vol. 13. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press; 1990. pp. 203–19.

Publication types

Associated data