>
Article snippet: NEW HAVEN — When Dave Mason left jail in October 2015 after his 14th criminal conviction, the odds were good that he would soon end up dead. A man with a longtime heroin addiction, Mr. Mason was entering one of the deadliest windows for jailed users returning to the streets: the first two weeks after release, when they often make the mistake of returning to a dose their body can no longer handle. Standing outside the New Haven Correctional Center, clutching his few belongings in a brown paper bag, Mr. Mason appeared precariously close to taking that path. His ride never showed up. He had no money, no contact with his family and nowhere to live. But instead of panhandling for cash to score drugs, he went to a methadone clinic, determined to stay clean. Methadone was not a new thing for Mr. Mason, 43. He had been on it before he went to jail for cashing forged checks. But it is almost always banned in jail, increasing the chances of relapse. Of the nation’s 5,100 jails and prisons, fewer than 30, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance, offer opioid users the most proven method of recovery: administering methadone or buprenorphine. Mr. Mason, though, had been allowed to take his daily dose, in a fledgling program that helped him continue what he says has been his longest period off heroin since his teens. “It is the key to my success,” he said. “It did what it was supposed to do. It kept me clean.” For more than a year, the PBS series “Frontline” and ... Link to the full article to read more