Quaid Copplio Thomas was booked into Plano Municipal Jail on April 26, 2022, at 5:17 pm. Tragically, he died in the custody of the Plano Municipal Jail just short of 8 hours later. Mr. Thomas was discovered to be unresponsive at about midnight, and he was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead on April 27, 2022, at 1:10 am.

Detox cells are provided in all Texas county jails because the demand for such accommodations is overwhelming. In fact, jails have become the largest drug treatment centers in our communities. According to U.S. correctional facility watchdog groups, the prime centers for opioid detoxification are the nation’s county jails. Different jails have different strategies for addressing the issue, but the expense is tremendous. Each year, many withdrawal deaths occur in Texas county jails.

An Opioid Crisis in County Jails

A recent report tells about a county jail outside Texas where nurses and corrections officers monitor inmates each day after they have received their dose of buprenorphine. This practice is known as medication-assisted treatment (MAT). Without this kind of help when an opioid addict is going through detoxification because the opioid supply has been cut off, the following are among the withdrawal symptoms experienced:

• A strong craving for drugs
• Belly pain
• Large pupils
• Body aches
• Yawning
• Nausea and vomiting
• Goosebumps and chills
• Severe bad moods and agitation

Learn more in this continuing series.

Implicating persons or institutions as participants in misdeeds is not intended on this website. Each of this website’s posts is meant as a resource and potential help to inmates held in Texas county jails.

–Guest Contributor