Background There is a high risk of death from opioid overdose following release from prison. Efforts to develop and implement overdose prevention programs for justice-involved populations have increased in recent years. An understanding of the gaps in knowledge on prevention interventions is needed to accelerate development, implementation, and dissemination of effective strategies. Methods A systematic search process identified 43 published papers addressing opioid overdose prevention in criminal justice settings or among justice-involved populations from 2010 to February 2020. Cross-cutting themes were identified, coded and qualitatively analyzed. Results Papers were coded into five categories: acceptability (n = 8), accessibility (n = 4), effectiveness (n = 5), feasibility (n = 7), and participant overdose risk (n = 19). Common themes were: (1) Acceptability of naloxone is associated with injection drug use, overdose history, and perceived risk within the situational context; (2) Accessibility of naloxone is a function of the interface between corrections and community; (3) Evaluations of overdose prevention interventions are few, but generally show increases in knowledge or reductions in opioid overdose; (4) Coordinated efforts are needed to implement prevention interventions, address logistical challenges, and develop linkages between corrections and community providers; (5) Overdose is highest immediately following release from prison or jail, often preceded by service-system interactions, and associated with drug-use severity, injection use, and mental health disorders, as well as risks in the post-release environment. Conclusion Study findings can inform the development of overdose prevention interventions that target justice-involved individuals and policies to support their implementation across criminal justice and community-based service systems.

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Juvenile Drug Treatment Courts (JDTCs) provide a critical opportunity to identify and treat youth with substance use disorders (SUD). Structuring JTDCs to minimize process complexity and time to treatment is important. Results across eight JDTCs indicate the number of steps between referral and enrollment varied from 2 to 7, and the potential wait time varied from 1 to 58 days. The number of steps between referral and SUD treatment varied from 3 to 8, and the potential wait time varied from 2 to 118 days. Information regarding JTDC process can inform the field about JTDC practice, including barriers to treatment as well as areas for improvement.