Introducing methadone maintenance therapy into Ukrainian prisons: a qualitative study of criminal subculture, Russia's full-scale invasion, and contested methadone objects.

ABSTRACT:

Background

After pilot testing, methadone was newly being introduced into Ukrainian prisons in 2021 as part of a national scale-up strategy to treat opioid use disorder and prevent transmission of HIV and HCV infections. Opioid agonist therapy (OAT) scale-up in Eastern Europe and Central Asia prisons has been hampered by varying levels of influence of criminal subculture, an extralegal informal governance by a social hierarchy that operates in parallel to formal prison authorities. This study examined the socio-environmental factors influencing the uptake of methadone treatment in Ukrainian prisons, including changes that evolved during Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the displacement of people deprived of liberty (PDL) from conflict to non-conflict regions.

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SUBMITTER: Ponticiello M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10720714 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature