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According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, synthetic opioid overdose deaths increased by a staggering 3,341% in the past decade. Loyola University Chicago’s Center for Criminal Justice (CCJ) seeks to reduce those numbers through a multiyear research project on one of the most at-risk populations for opioid overdose: formerly incarcerated individuals on parole.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse launched the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN) in 2019. The national project focuses on supporting justice-involved individuals– meaning, anyone who has experience with the criminal justice system as a defendant– struggling with opioid addiction. JCOIN comprises two resource centers and 13 clinical research centers, or “hubs.” The Center for Criminal Justice is part of the TCU hub, a collaborative study between Texas Christian University, the University of New Mexico, Loyola, and the Texas, New Mexico, and Illinois Departments of Corrections. The TCU hub has been testing innovative ways to connect at-risk individuals under parole supervision to substance abuse treatments in their local communities.
“People coming out of prison have dramatically higher drug overdose death rates than the general population,” says CCJ co-director David E. Olson. “One effective way to reduce that risk is to provide people access to behavioral health services.”
The multiyear study began in 2019 and is set to finish in 2025. During this time, CCJ received a $500,000 grant to conduct the study in Lake County, Rockford, Aurora, Peoria, Decatur, and East St. Louis. While the City of Chicago offers multiple treatment services and programs, the six communities participating in the study are in dire need of resources for people struggling with substance abuse. Finding support in those locations is even harder for members of specific demographics like women, Spanish speakers, or those with mental health conditions. Moreover, 62% of individuals in mandatory supervised release (as parole is called in Illinois) who required treatment when they entered prison reside in those six communities.
Though the study takes place in three states with vastly different parole policies, the process is similar in each: on the ground and hands-on. The Illinois team interviewed people coming out of prison to better understand their experience of navigating the reentry process, especially when it came to accessing treatment. They also formed workgroups with staff members from parole offices, community behavioral health providers, public health agencies, and other local organizations. During the workgroup meetings, CCJ shared important data and analysis, like the drug overdose rate of the formerly incarcerated population. They also discussed ways to identify people under parole who have a demonstrated need for substance abuse treatment services and led exercises to brainstorm improving access to them.
People coming out of prison have dramatically higher drug overdose death rates than the general population. One effective way to reduce that risk is to provide people access to behavioral health services.
— David E. Olson, co-director of the Loyola University Chicago Center for Criminal Justice
The result? Parole officers and staff members of local agencies developed joint strategies that took into account each other’s expertise. Prior to their participation in the workgroups, parole officers collaborated with local police on a case-by-case basis, but they rarely interacted with community-based organizations or treatment providers. In return, these local stakeholders were often unaware of the number of people under mandatory supervised release and how they differed from individuals on probation. The workgroups changed that.
“For many of the community behavioral health providers and public health agencies, this was the first time they had ever engaged with the parole staff in their community. Now they have a much better understanding of their work,” says Olson. “Similarly, parole staff became aware of community-based resources that can benefit the clients they serve.”
Parole office staff, local health officials, community providers, and other workgroup members echo Olson’s sentiments. “This was eye-opening,” says a parole leader, noting that they had rarely interacted with area organizations working to address substance abuse.
A local public health department official also remarked on the benefits of this collaboration, saying, “I think when we sit at a table like this, we learn from each other.”
In addition, the CCJ shared critical information with local parole officers about the demographic they served, allowing them to situate their work in a larger context. This included data like the percentage of people under their supervision who needed treatment, the types of substances they abused, and recidivism rates.
“Most of their understandings of those issues were based on what they’d observed day-to-day,” explains Olson. “You may only observe the failures, you may only observe the people that get arrested, but you don’t observe the things that don’t happen. It’s important to help people on the front lines to see how their work contributes to the overall efforts at reducing crime and improving access to treatment services.”
On their part, the CCJ research team is advocating for directing more resources to support formerly incarcerated individuals with addictions by sharing their findings with other relevant government agencies. Since one of the study’s goals is to provide a roadmap for other states, the CCJ is also developing training webinars.
As Olson jokes, some of the recommendations are “not that sexy,” but they are incredibly impactful for justice-involved individuals who need treatment. For example, one of the major opportunities for improving outcomes is providing transportation to treatment services. Another is making sure that upon their release from prison, individuals sign a form allowing their information to be shared with treatment providers. “As simple as that sounds, that’s one of the biggest barriers [for accessing treatment] that people identified,” Olson says.
The TCU hub study is now entering a new phase where the focus is implementing the strategies the workgroups developed—and ensuring they become the norm.
“The real goal is for this to become more institutionalized, more routinized within the state,” says Olson. “What we’re working on for the next year and a half is putting in place the mechanisms that can allow that to happen […] If the goal of the justice system is to rehabilitate and to reduce victimization, ensuring that people get access to services can make sure that that happens as well.”
