Department of Sociology, University of Alberta, Canada.
Int J Drug Policy. 2019 Sep;71:133-138. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.05.018. Epub 2019 Jul 23.
Fentanyl and derivatives are lethal components of North America's opioid crisis. Prisons often house a disproportionate number of illicit opiate users. To date, no on-the-ground empirical research exists on how opioids are altering the health and risk profile of prisons. The objectives of this study were to examine (1) how fentanyl and its analogues have shaped the prison experience for prisoners; and (2) how these opioids have altered the occupation of correctional officers (CO's).
We conducted semi-structured interviews with 587 adult prisoners and 131 COs across four provincial prisons in Western Canada. Prisoners were recruited on their housing units and randomly selected. COs were recruited through non-probability, theoretical sampling. We employed a generalized prompt guide and asked a range of questions pertaining to how the presence of fentanyl and its analogues have changed the prison experience for prisoners and have impacted the work routine of COs. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed verbatim, thematically coded and analyzed using Nvivo 11.
For prisoners, we identified four main results: (1) the presence of fentanyl leads to an increased number of overdoses; (2) prisons are nonetheless perceived as a comparatively safe place to use drugs; (3) fentanyl is often mixed into other drugs, making it hard for drug users to avoid fentanyl; and (4) prisoners fear fentanyl is being weaponized. For officers, we identified: (1) increased fears about inadvertent personal exposure or widespread institutional opioid contamination; (2) fear of targeted poisonings; (3) changing attitudes towards opioid-using prisoners; and (4) a declining commitment to correctional careers.
The presence of fentanyl in prisons has significantly influenced how prisoners experience prison and relate to each other and how COs perceive their job. COs now identify fentanyl as the greatest risk to their safety in prisons.
芬太尼及其衍生物是北美阿片类药物危机中的致命成分。监狱通常关押着不成比例的非法阿片类药物使用者。迄今为止，关于阿片类药物如何改变监狱的健康和风险状况，还没有实地的实证研究。本研究的目的是：（1）检查芬太尼及其类似物如何塑造囚犯的监狱经历；（2）检查这些阿片类药物如何改变狱警的职业。
我们在加拿大西部的四个省级监狱对 587 名成年囚犯和 131 名狱警进行了半结构化访谈。囚犯是在他们的住房单元招募的，并进行随机选择。狱警是通过非概率理论抽样招募的。我们采用了一般提示指南，并询问了一系列问题，涉及芬太尼及其类似物的存在如何改变囚犯的监狱经历，以及对狱警的工作常规产生了哪些影响。访谈进行了数字录音、逐字转录、主题编码和使用 Nvivo 11 进行分析。
对于囚犯，我们确定了四个主要结果：（1）芬太尼的存在导致过量用药的人数增加；（2）然而，监狱被认为是一个相对安全的用药场所；（3）芬太尼经常混入其他药物中，使吸毒者难以避免芬太尼；（4）囚犯担心芬太尼被武器化。对于狱警，我们确定了：（1）对个人意外暴露或广泛机构阿片类药物污染的担忧增加；（2）担心有针对性的中毒；（3）对使用阿片类药物的囚犯的态度发生变化；（4）对狱警职业的承诺下降。
监狱中存在芬太尼显著影响了囚犯对监狱的体验以及囚犯之间的关系，也影响了狱警对工作的看法。狱警现在将芬太尼视为监狱中对他们安全的最大威胁。
