Systemic effects of COVID‐19 policy changes on drug availability in prison: A natural experiment in Oregon, a research note

Abstract

Drugs in prison can have serious consequences for prisoners, staff, and communities. In this study, we employed a natural experimental design to assess the systemic effects of the policy changes introduced by the Oregon Department of Corrections in March 2020 to slow the spread of coronavirus-2019 (COVID-19) on the measures of drug use and misconduct (e.g., suspended visits, precluded nonsecurity staff from entering facilities, stopped prisoner work release assignments). More specifically, we conducted interrupted time-series analyses to evaluate whether the policy changes corresponded to changes in the aggregate rates of positive urinalysis tests and drug-related misconduct. The results revealed statistically significant decreases in the rates of positive drug tests and misconduct system wide after the COVID-19 policy changes. Research and policy implications are discussed.