Partnerships in Harm Reduction: Campus to Community Engagement to Benefit Incarcerated Individuals Upon Release

An interprofessional team of students with faculty support have developed harm reduction re-entry kits for residents leaving the county jail. Resident focus groups and advice from corrections staff informed the inventory for the bags. It is estimated that one in every two residents leaving incarceration have mental health concerns, with two in five men and three in five women reporting having a combination of physical, mental, and substance use disorder (SUD) (James & Glaze, 2006, as cited in La Vigne et al., 2008: Mallik-Kane & Visher, 2008, as cited in La Vigne et al., 2008). Studies have shown that within the first two weeks following reentry, a resident with SUD is 129 times more likely to overdose than the general public (Binswanger et al., 2007, as cited in La Vigne et al., 2008). Given the high rates of individuals reentering with SUD, providing individuals with lifesaving materials is exigent, especially in Maine. In 2021, Maine witnessed a surge in overdoses attributed to the increased presence of fentanyl within the drug supply. According to Sorg and Leidenfrost (2021), of the 632 confirmed overdoses, 77% (n =475) were caused by fentanyl or fentanyl analogs. According to The Lancet Public Health (2022), “...making naloxone more accessible at the community level, …could avert substantial numbers of opioid overdose deaths” (p. 2). The inclusion of naloxone, fentanyl testing strips, and harm reduction resources aims to combat the high rates of overdoses experienced by the reentry community.
The mini-grant was written by the student team, submitted to the Center for Excellence in Collaborative Education at UNE, and awarded for the purchase of supplies. A larger team of students gathered in July to fill kits for the residents leaving the jail, in addition to separate gift bags designed to show appreciation for the corrections officers. These efforts aim to reduce stigma in the overall community and improve outcomes for people and their families. Data will become available upon the distribution of the kits and subsequent follow up with the corrections officers and former residents.