NIH Public Access Author Manuscript

If you are looking for an introduction to the use of evidence-based practice (EBP) in corrections based drug treatment, then this is for you. EBP "applies the principles and techniques of evidence-based decision making to interventions intended to improve, or ameliorate, the social or clinical problems of affected individuals, including offenders with drug abuse problems. This article provides a general overview of EBP, particularly as it applies to treatment and other interventions for offenders with problems involving drugs (including alcohol). The discussion includes a definition of EBP, notes the implications of using EBPs to make policy and clinical decisions, lists the various efforts by government and academic organizations to identify practices that can be considered evidence based, describes the criteria used by such organizations to evaluate programs as being evidence based, raises some cautions about the use of EBPs, and ends with some challenges in disseminating and implementing EBPs" (p. 10). Following an abstract, this article covers: a definition and implications; evidence-based practice initiatives; meta-analyses of treatment programs for offenders; limitations of randomized designs for evidence-based practices; challenges in disseminating and implementing EBPs; and EPBs having valid yet tentative knowledge about "what works".

This is an excellent article that explains how the use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in a correctional setting can positively impact the viral suppression of incarcerated individuals with HIV. "Though just one-third of HIV-infected prisoners receiving ART entered correctional facilities with viral suppression, HIV treatment was optimized during incarceration, resulting in the majority achieving viral suppression by release. Treatment for HIV within prison is facilitated by a highly structured environment and, when combined with simple well-tolerated ART regimens, can result in viral suppression during incarceration. In the absence of important and effective community-based resources, incarceration can be an opportunity of last resort to initiate continuous ART for individual health and, following the “treatment as prevention” paradigm, potentially reduce the likelihood of HIV transmission to others after release if continuity of HIV care is sustained."