Copyright © 2021 American Society of Addiction Medicine. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited. Peter Higgs, PhD Behaviours and Health Risks Program Public Health Discipline Burnet Institute Melbourne, VIC, Australia Department of Public Health LaTrobe University Victoria, Australia Reece D. Cossar, BA(Hons) Behaviours and Health Risks Program Public Health Discipline Burnet Institute Melbourne, VIC, Australia Centre for Forensic Behavioural Science Swinburne University of Technology and Forensicare Alphington, Australia Rebecca J. Winter, PhD Behaviours and Health Risks Program Public Health Discipline Burnet Institute Melbourne, VIC, Australia St Vincent’s Hospital Victoria, Australia Ashleigh C. Stewart, MPH Mark Stoove ´, PhD Behaviours and Health Risks Program Public Health Discipline Burnet Institute Melbourne, VIC, Australia School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine Monash University Melbourne, VIC, Australia REFERENCES 1. Chan B, Gean E, Arkhipova-Jenkins I, et al. Retention strategies for medications for opi- oid use disorder in adults: A rapid evidence review. J Addict Med. 2020. Online Ahead of Print. 2. Binswanger IA, Stern MF, Deyo RA, et al. Release from prison — A high risk of death for former inmates. N Engl J Med. 2007; 356(2):157–165. 3. Degenhardt L, Larney S, Kimber J, et al. The impact of opioid substitution therapy on mor- tality post-release from prison: retrospective data linkage study. Addiction. 2014;109(8): 1306–1317. 4. Malta M, Varatharajan T, Russell C, Pang M, Bonato S, Fischer B. Opioid-related treatment, interventions, and outcomes among incarcer- ated persons: A systematic review. PLoS Med. 2019;16(12):e1003002. 5. Rich JD, McKenzie M, Larney S, et al. Meth- adone continuation versus forced withdrawal on incarceration in a combined US prison and jail: A randomised, open-label trial. Lancet. 2015;386(9991):350–359. 6. Carpentier C, Royuela L, Montanari L, Davis P. The global epidemiology of drug use in prison. In: Kinner SA, Rich JD, eds. Drug Use in Prisoners: Epidemiology, Implica- tions, and Policy Responses. Oxford UK: Oxford University Press; 2017. 7. Larney S. Does opioid substitution treatment in prisons reduce injecting-related HIV risk behaviours? A systematic review. Addiction. 2010;105(2):216–223. 8. Kirwan A, Curtis M, Dietze P, et al. The Prison and Transition Health (PATH) cohort study: Study protocol and baseline charac- teristics of a cohort of men with a history of injecting drug use leaving prison in Australia. J Urban Health. 2019;96(3): 400–410. 9. Larney S, Gisev N, Farrell M, et al. Opioid substitution therapy as a strategy to reduce deaths in prison: Retrospective cohort study. BMJ Open. 2014;4(4):e004666. 10. Gisev N, Gibson A, Larney S, et al. Offend- ing, custody and opioid substitution therapy treatment utilisation among opioid-depen- dent people in contact with the criminal justice system: Comparison of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. BMC Public Health. 2014;14:920. Letter in Reply Reply: W e appreciate the letter by Curtis, Larney, Higgs, et al, ‘‘Initiation of medications for opioid use disorder shortly before release from prison to promote treatment retention: strong evidence but compromised policy.’’ 1 We agree with the authors that people who experience incarceration are an important population for addictions treatment and retention efforts. The authors express concern that the finding supporting treatment and initiation of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) for incarcerated persons before release as a means to improve retention on MOUD postrelease may undermine advocacy for policies to initiate or continue treatment for all incarcerated persons with opioid use disorder, regardless of time to release. This was certainly not our intent. The charge for the review was to identify strategies and interventions to enhance retention for community-dwell- ing people on MOUD. 2 With that focus in mind, we included studies of prere- lease populations who had follow-up in the community of at least 3-months. Additionally, early during our review process, we became aware of other agencies conducting related research— including a review specifically focused on MOUD in prison settings commis- sioned by the Substance Abuse and Men- tal Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). 3 This SAMHSA report found only 30 out of 5100 prisons and jails in the US offered methadone or buprenorphine despite evidence of reli- able benefits for opioid use outcomes and treatment retention. We believe that our evidence review focusing on retention upon release into the community comple- ments these other efforts. Policies that promote MOUD treatment are urgently needed at all phases of criminal justice involvement to reduce OUD-associated mortality. The criminal justice continuum of care is one such framework that merits further investigation. 4 Brian Chan, MD, MPH Section of Addiction Medicine Oregon Health and Science University Portland, OR Central City Concern Portland, OR chanbri@ohsu.edu Irina Arkhipova-Jenkins, MD, MBA Emily Gean, PhD Kimberly Hubbard, BA Scientific Resource Center of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Received for publication November 10, 2020; accepted November 10, 2020. Supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) under Contract No. HHSA 290 2017 00003C. Dr. Brian Chan’s time was supported by AHRQ PCOR K12 (K12HS022981). The authors report no conflicts of interest. Copyright ß 2020 American Society of Addiction Medicine ISSN: 1932-0620/20/1506-0526 DOI: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000000787 Letters to the Editor J Addict Med  Volume 15, Number 6, November/December 2021 526 ß 2020 American Society of Addiction Medicine