Recommendations

To the New York State Department of Correctional Services

·Ensure timely access to evidence-based drug treatment and HIV prevention services for incarcerated  drug users:

oTake immediate steps to ensure prisoners' access to care equivalent to that provided in the community (including access to evidence-based drug treatment, harm reduction, and overdose prevention services) and that this care is continuous on transfer into and out of places of detention. Expand current programs to provide  overdose prevention education and services to prisoners due to be released.

oTake immediate steps to ensure that drug users can enter treatment without delay, including by expanding existing evidence-based treatment, and providing translation services for non-English speaking prisoners and services for low-literacy prisoners.

oTake immediate steps to ensure that opioid-dependent prisoners have access to Medication-Assisted Therapy.

·Reform disciplinary policies related to substance use:

oTake immediate steps to ensure that disciplinary sanctions for substance use do not subject prisoners to cruel, inhuman or other degrading treatment or punishment or compromise their right to health, including by: 1. revising  current disciplinary guidelines to ensure that sanctions for substance use are proportionate to the seriousness of offenses committed; 2.  providing oversight to ensure that sanctions imposed do not exceed those permitted by guidelines; and 3. screening prisoners who commit drug offenses for drug dependence and assigning those who are in need of drug treatment to treatment programs rather than punishment.

oEliminate disciplinary segregation as a punishment for substance use, and ensure that disciplinary sanctions for substance use are otherwise proportionate to the seriousness of the offense and do not compromise prisoners' right to health.

oEnsure that urinalysis testing, to the extent that it is used at all, is used in a manner that is consistent with prisoners' right to health and recognition of drug dependence as a chronic, relapsing disease.

To the New York State Commission on Correction

·Review DOCS disciplinary policies related to substance use to ensure that sanctions are proportionate to the seriousness of the offense and consistent with prisoners' right to health.

·Review DOCS substance abuse treatment programs to ensure that all prisoners have timely access to evidence-based substance abuse treatment and harm reduction services, including Medication-Assisted Therapy for opioid users.

To the Governor of New York

·Support comprehensive reform of New York's mandatory sentencing laws for drug offenders (commonly called the Rockefeller drug laws) that would reduce prison sentences for low-level drug offenders and restore discretion to courts to determine appropriate punishments for drug-related crimes and increase use of alternatives to incarceration for offenders who pose no appreciable risk to public safety.

To the New York State Legislature

·Reform the Rockefeller drug laws:

oReform the Rockefeller Drug Laws to eliminate mandatory minimum sentencing, restore judicial discretion and promote increased availability and use of alternatives to incarceration sanctions for low-level drug offenders that emphasize public health, harm reduction and human rights.

·Provide oversight and review to ensure evidence-based substance abuse treatment for New York State prisoners:

oTake immediate steps to ensure that the Department of Correctional Services provides timely access to evidence-based drug treatment and HIV prevention services to drug users and reforms disciplinary policies related to substance use.

oRequire an independent review of Department of Correctional Services' substance abuse programming to evaluate its availability, accessibility, appropriateness, quality and conformance to evidence-based practices.

oSupport ongoing efforts to increase the involvement of the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) in programs operated in the Department of Correctional Services.

oSupport legislation:

§Promoting expansion of evidence-based substance abuse treatment programming in New York State prisons.

§Promoting expansion of health and harm reduction services in New York State prisons, including Medication-Assisted Therapy for opioid dependence.

§Ensuring that disciplinary sanctions for substance use are proportionate and do not undermine prisoners' access to essential health and harm reduction services.

To the United States Congress and Executive Branch

·Enact legislation, regulations and policies promoting harm reduction programs in prisons, including needle exchange, drug dependence treatment, condom distribution, Medication-Assisted Therapy and other efforts to reduce transmission of HIV and hepatitis B and C in prison and upon release.

·Ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

To the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies, Special Rapporteurs and Human Rights Council

·In accordance with a human-rights based approach to drug policy, prioritize the protection of human rights for people who use drugs in prison. Call upon state parties to specifically address: 

oWhether prisoners who use drugs have access to evidence-based drug treatment and harm reduction services and

oWhether disciplinary sanctions for drug use are disproportionate or excessive, prevent access to health and harm reduction services, or otherwise constitute cruel, degrading or inhuman treatment and interference with the right to health.