Richard Edgerton was arrested and booked into Harris County Jail in Houston, Texas, on September 5, 2019. The following day, he was discovered on the floor of his cell and he was unresponsive. He was given medical care but died on September 6, 2019.

Studies show that the percentage of drug-addicted inmates has increased across the nation in the past decades. Opioids have been pinpointed as a cause of widespread drug addiction. Commonly used opioids include codeine, fentanyl, opium, methadone, and heroin. Many people who have become addicted were given prescription pain medication by their doctors and didn’t realize the addictive nature of the drugs.

A number of jails throughout the country have adopted programs in which innovative treatments are used to stop opioid addiction. Some of those programs are in Texas.

One Texas sheriff stated that jailing addicts is not an effective solution. He supported the county’s decision to provide monthly shots of a drug that covers opioid receptors so that addictive drugs cannot have the desired effects. Patients using these drugs experience fewer cravings and are unable to get high.

The shots are expensive, however, and cost more than $1,000 each. In one Texas pilot program, initial doses were provided and it was expected that private insurance or Medicaid would cover future doses.

Only inmates who were set for release were permitted to participate in the program.

Learn more in this ongoing series.

There is never an intention on this website to imply that improprieties have occurred on the part of persons or institutions. The purpose of providing posts on this website is to help inmates now or formerly detained in Texas county jails.

–Guest Contributor