Kidney stones nearly cost Gordon his life.

In pain from the ailment, the 20-year-old history major at University of North Carolina was prescribed Oxycontin, a strong opioid painkiller. When that ran out, his cravings drove him to buy Oxy on the street. Soon he switched to heroin and within a year he had slid into full-fledged drug dependence. It got worse – he robbed banks to feed his habit and was arrested and sentenced to 47 months in federal prison.

Gordon sought help for his drug dependence while awaiting trial. His doctor prescribed suboxone, a form of medication-assisted therapy proven to reduce cravings for opioids, and it provided the relief that Gordon had prayed for. But when he entered prison in March 2013, his budding recovery from drug dependence was abruptly disrupted. As is common in US prisons, the medium security facility where Gordon was sent only had an abstinence-based drug treatment program, so he was cut off from his medication – that, despite the fact that 1 in 10 inmates dependent on opioids do not respond to this sort of treatment, according to Bureau of Prisons data.

Gordon participated in the treatment programs but soon relapsed and began using drugs again. He was caught and punished – including 45 days of solitary confinement and loss of family visitation privileges for one year. He appealed, pointing out he had been in recovery before being sent to prison and begging for the medication that had worked for him outside. The prison authorities refused and later transferred him to a higher security prison where he was stabbed by another inmate and placed in protective custody.

Gordon was released in March and is now on probation. He works at a restaurant and is back on suboxone under the care of a physician. Unfortunately, his experience while behind bars is all too common. Inmates like Gordon continue to use drugs behind bars when prisons fail to provide effective treatment. But most US prisons do not offer medication-assisted therapy for opioid dependence and many delay any type of drug treatment until the final months of an inmate’s sentence.

In New York State prisons, Human Rights Watch documented lack of access to treatment for opioids and other drugs, with inmates spending months, sometimes years, in solitary confinement for drug offenses within their facilities. Denial of medical care for drug dependence, followed by punishment for possession of drugs, is a particularly cruel injustice that nearly cost Gordon his life. Until prisons respect the right of prisoners struggling with drug dependence to access the treatment they need, many others will continue to suffer unnecessary harm.