Snohomish County Sheriff Ty Trenary said in terms of the broader opioid epidemic, “We’ve found the recipe that we think will get us out of this crisis, we just need capacity to make it happen.” “Quite frankly at less than $1 a day we can’t afford not to,” he said.
The general fund pays for the medication itself, which Kane said is well worth it. The medication-assisted treatment program in Snohomish County is paid for through private health insurance, Medicaid, and state and federal grants. They say living with other inmates seeking drug treatment helps build community. Jordan and Jesse, who just gave their first names, are part of the group receiving their dose. Ken Egli, medical director for Ideal Option. “There’s less incentive to divert when everybody in your pod is on the same medication,” according to Dr. To cut down on misuse of the drug, all the inmates receiving it are housed together. To fill that gap, the jail has partnered with Ideal Option, a treatment provider that works with participants inside and outside the jail.Īlso in jail, buprenorphine can be diverted and abused. They don’t have enough prescribing doctors. Jails have two major barriers to offering the treatment. But it’s still rare to offer it in this setting. In a recent report, Columbia Legal Services called on jails to offer medication-assisted treatment to prevent jail deaths. The dose kills their cravings for opioids and prevents withdrawal. Now every day in certain housing units in the jail, a medical assistant hands a line of inmates small plastic cups containing doses of buprenorphine, and checks that they’ve swallowed it. Officials expect that number to climb, since they estimate that people with opioid use disorder make up 30-40 percent of jail bookings. 29 to provide comprehensive treatment to all eligible inmates, 197 were enrolled in the first two weeks. And those inmates didn't get medication every day, just at the beginning to manage withdrawal and ramp up again shortly before their release. But the size of the program was limited by the number of providers available to prescribe it. Initial results were promising, and now the jail is offering the treatment to any eligible inmate who wants it.ĭuring the 10-month pilot program through September 2019, 104 inmates enrolled and remained active in medication-assisted treatment.
In December 2018,the jail tried a solution: offering drug-based treatment for opioid abuse in a pilot program. "It is not a good environment for anybody.” “They’re four to a cell on the floor, they’re constantly vomiting, they have to share one toilet," jail chief Jamie Kane said.
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