One of the five main areas is Title 2 (Public Service). It ensures that state and local governments, their agencies and public transit systems do not discriminate against or exclude people with disabilities from their programs, services or activities.

Drug addiction, including an addiction to opioids, is a disability under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. Addiction is considered a disability because it is an impairment that affects the brain and neurological functions.

Opioid Use Disorder is a chronic medical and mental health condition characterized by the compulsive, uncontrollable use of opioid drugs despite harmful physical, psychological, and social consequences. It encompasses both physical dependence and severe addiction. Addiction is a chronic, medical disease with serious potential consequence including disability, relapse and death.

Accountability is the obligation of an individual or organization to account for their activities, accept responsibility for them, and disclose results transparently. It means being answerable for your actions and taking ownership of outcomes and is on the core valves Utah Department of Corrections holds.

Inmates at the Utah State Correctional Facility are held accountable through a tiered behavior system, strict disciplinary policies for institutional misconduct, everything they do or don’t they are held accountable for. If your criminal history or risk assessment indicates a substance abuse issue, the board of pardons frequently makes participation in prison treatment programs a mandatory condition of being granted parole.

The reality is inmates at Utah State Correctional Facility are frequently denied substance abuse treatment, particularly medication-assisted treatment, due to a combination of opinions from facility directors.

Medical personnel have a constitutional and legal duty to treat substance use disorder within a correctional facility. Under the Eighth Amendment, denying care for serious medical needs — including addiction and withdrawal — is considered cruel and unusual punishment. These standards mandate evidence-based care such as medication-assisted treatment.

The funding is available and continues to be received every year. The struggle of fighting cravings and withdrawals from drug addiction every day while trying to make it out of prison to be a better person with a new start is an even bigger struggle for people incarcerated in Utah.

How do we expect the incarcerated to do better when they go in if they are still struggling with the same problem from lack of treatment?

How can we expect our communities to be safer when the incarceration system denies needed treatment?

Why do we expect that incarceration fixed everything when the inmates are constantly being punished for asking for help?

It’s incredibly frustrating to enforce rules on inmates when leadership and medical staff seem to operate without consequence. A much-needed change needs to happen if we ever want to have a successfully rehabilitated and reformed incarceration population.

Misty Spell is a resident of Ogden.