Timothy York knows what works to treat his decadeslong opioid addiction: Suboxone, a medication that effectively quiets cravings.
Since York arrived in federal prison in 2008, he has been held in a series of facilities awash with contraband drugs and violence.
Yet the federal prisons are treating only a fraction — less than 10% — of the roughly 15,000 prisoners who need it, according to the bureau’s estimates.
Some say the issues stem from a culture at the bureau that is skeptical of addiction medication and pits staff against prisoners.
He was using an underground supply of Suboxone at USP-Coleman, the federal prison in Florida where he was incarcerated, but it was erratic.