Governor Rosselló inaugurates program to address transition to the community of inmates with addiction problems
(July 31, 2018 - San Juan) Today, Governor of Puerto Rico Ricardo Rosselló inaugurated the facilities of the Offender Reentry Program (ORP), an initiative that seeks to promote and facilitate access to treatment services related to substance use in inmates that are close to serving their sentence and reintegrating into the free community.
The initiative, inaugurated at the Río Piedras Hospital of Forensic Psychiatry, is one of the measures aimed at addressing the problem of opiate use in Puerto Rico.
“This program is part of the initiatives that we have implemented to address the opiate situation in Puerto Rico with responsibility and haste. We cannot allow a crisis to arise in the Island as in other jurisdictions in the United States, so this represents a great step forward in the fight against addictions,” said the chief executive.
Rosselló also added that “we will pay attention to the recovery process of inmates with addiction problems, since it will help them reduce relapses in substance use.”
The governor made the announcement along with the administrator of the Services of Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration (ASSMCA, for its Spanish acronym), Suzanne Roig and the secretary of the Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (DCR), Erick Rolón.
According to the chief executive, the ORP will increase access to services and reduce barriers to community treatment. Likewise, it will lay the foundations to reduce the reentry of users to penitentiaries for crimes related to addiction.
“To achieve this, multiple and innovative preventive strategies will be implemented; these will involve public policy; strategies for self‑management of treatment by the participant; rapid response authorities; and health professionals who intervene in situations of substance overdose,” explained Rosselló.
For her part, Roig explained that, to prevent and reduce the number of deaths due to the use of opiates in Puerto Rico, ASSMCA will carry out interventions in penitentiaries and later in the community.
“Our agency will offer direct service to inmates in penal institutions prior to serving their sentence and up to 90 days after their departure to the free community. We will identify areas of need for treatment and channel services according to an individualized exit plan,” stated Roig.
The ASSMCA administrator also said that “we will also link the participant directly to medical care, mental health, or complementary services in the community, either by initiating or maintaining a continuity of services.”
During that transition process, Roig indicated, the person will have a liaison from the agency that will connect him or her directly to the place where they will receive the treatment, so that it will not be interrupted.
Meanwhile, the secretary of the DCR said that “this is an important rehabilitation program, which not only helps the members of the correctional population, but also their families, since it ensures that once in the free community they do not fall back into the crimes that led them to enter correctional institutions. It is very important to help in their reintegration into the free community.”
Participants eligible for the program will be adults with a history of opioid use who are within 120 days of serving their sentence in a penal institution and who do not benefit from any privileges in the free community, such as probation, parole, electronic supervision, or diversion, among others.
In the case of women, they may be eligible participants with a use history of any type of substance.
The program was established through a collaboration agreement between both government agencies, signed on February 15, 2017. The ORP will be funded with federal funds and will be implemented in two phases.
