HOUSE BILL 528

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2007

INTRODUCED BY

Mimi Stewart

FOR THE COURTS, CORRECTIONS AND JUSTICE COMMITTEE

AN ACT

RELATING TO CORRECTIONS; CREATING THE OPIATE REPLACEMENT THERAPY FOR INMATES PILOT PROJECT; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     Section 1. OPIATE REPLACEMENT THERAPY FOR INMATES PILOT PROJECT.--

          A. The "opiate replacement therapy for inmates pilot project" is created as a two-year study that provides opiate replacement treatment, utilizing buprenorphine/naloxone, to fifty women with a history of heroin or other opiate addiction who are incarcerated at and are to be released on parole from the New Mexico women's correctional facility in Grants and the Camino Nuevo correctional center. The project shall include standard therapeutic community and addiction counseling.

          B. Opiate replacement therapy shall be administered to fifty women with a history of heroin or other opiate addiction who:

                (1) are within three months of release;

                (2) will be monitored on parole or probation for at least one year following release;

                (3) are not pregnant; and

                (4) after being fully informed of buprenorphine/naloxone and its effects and of the requirements and procedures for participation in the project, agree to participate in the opiate replacement therapy for inmates pilot project for two years.

          C. Priority shall be given to those women who are closest to being released from incarceration and to those planning to parole to a community within sixty miles of a physician certified to prescribe buprenorphine/naloxone therapy.

          D. Opiate replacement therapy with buprenorphine/naloxone shall be made available to each participant in the pilot project for two years. The impact of the project on all participants shall be evaluated for two years.

          E. The corrections department shall collaborate with the department of health to administer and evaluate the opiate replacement therapy for inmates pilot project and to contract for the services of buprenorphine/naloxone-certified physicians and case managers to evaluate and treat the women participants.

          F. The corrections department in collaboration with the department of health shall evaluate the success of women who participate in the pilot project as compared to women with a history of opiate dependence who are not treated with buprenorphine/naloxone. The evaluation shall include findings about:

                (1) recidivism, relapse and cost savings;

                (2) the amount of psychotropic medication used;

                (3) the number of opiate-positive drug screens;

                (4) the rate and frequency of infection, self-inflicted injury and need for medical care; and

                (5) the changes in physical and mental health status, employment status, parenting and other quality of life indicators during the project period.

          G. The corrections department and department of health shall each report independently to the appropriate interim legislative committee on the evaluations, treatments and outcomes of the pilot project participants by December 1, 2008 and again by December 1, 2009.

          H. The pilot project shall run from July 1, 2007 through June 30, 2009.

     Section 2. APPROPRIATION.--Two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the corrections department for expenditure in fiscal years 2008 and 2009 for the opiate replacement therapy for inmates pilot project. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2009 shall revert to the general fund.

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