INNOCENTS BEHIND BARS –
Jan. 13, 2026 – In this episode we hear the stories of people incarcerated with substance use disorder. An estimated 65% of the US prison population has a substance addiction, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. And on any given day 366,000 people are jailed for a drug offense. Nearly 60% of them for a non violent drug offense. And the vast majority of people incarcerated for drug offenses are black and brown: 53% are Black, 23% Brown.
Many also have a serious mental illness who are self medicating with drugs and alcohol. This means jails and prisons serve as pseudo drug and alcohol treatment centers and psychiatric facilities. But they weren’t built and created with that intention, leaving these populations suffering in a punitive setting that is cold, hard, and sometimes violent, for conditions often out of their control-invisible disabilities.
