Category: City Jails|County Jails|Medical Care|Outside Texas

One hurdle that the county jail outside of Texas faced was that the rules for dispensing methadone from regulatory agencies were for private entities only. Rules had to be tailored for the jail which is, of course, a public entity.

In a test program for administering methadone, it was discovered that some of the inmates who apply do not meet the criteria. To participate, an inmate must have opiate misuse disorder. By using methadone daily, participants do not suffer illness from withdrawal while they are incarcerated. In addition, they do not crave the use of opiates.

Participants are enrolled in Medicaid to cover costs both while incarcerated and following their release. They are also referred to the medical department at the jail. In addition, inmates are paired with community counselors and methadone providers who can assist them upon their release from the jail. Among the re-entry plans are obtaining non-driver identification and/or transportation.

One of the individuals involved with this program said that success can be thwarted by any number of obstacles. For instance, if an inmate is delayed by one hour in getting treatment, their recovery could be derailed. Stumbling blocks that may seem to be minor are actually huge and significant.

See Part 1 and this continuing series for additional information.

This website’s posts are intended as a resource that may be helpful. There is never an intention on this website to suggest that an entity or individual has been involved in any sort of wrongdoing.

–Guest Contributor

Continuing the story from Part 1 of this series, initially, the emergency medical technicians (EMTs) summoned by guards arrived at the jail and started to bring the inmate to the jail’s medical unit for an IV. The inmate asked them not to bother. He explained that the last time he went there, he was left in a filthy cell in unbearable pain for six hours and received no medical aid. At that point, the guards instructed the EMTs to transport the inmate to the hospital.

When doctors checked the inmate’s condition at the hospital, they found him to be in critical condition. He was life-flighted to a bigger hospital. The inmate’s mother was told that her son’s survival chances were below 10% and to visit him at once. (See the first paragraph in Part 1 of this series to learn what happened to the inmate.)

It has since been alleged that inmates had routinely been denied medical care at the jail because the private health care provider was attempting to increase profits by saving money on the costs of providing medical attention. Any time inmates needed medical care, the company allegedly used nurses and emergency personnel who, outside the scope of their licenses, would diagnose the inmates and claim that they were faking.

Inmates have rights, and those rights include health care when medical care for an illness or injury is needed. And yet, the most common complaint waged by inmates and their family members is that medical care is inadequate.

Texas jails are required to adhere to minimum jail standards that are established by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). It has long been debated, however, that better monitoring and compliance enforcement are desperately needed for standards to make a difference that can protect inmates.

This post is an informational resource and is not intended to make specific assertions or allegations of misconduct against anyone who may or may not have engaged in misconduct.

–Guest Contributor