PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The White House drug policy director visited the Camden County Jail on Tuesday with an announcement that the jail’s method of treatment for people with substance abuse disorder will become a national model.
Giving people in prisons addiction-treatment drugs like methadone rather than putting them on a hard detox has proven successful at the Camden County Jail. Dr. Rahul Gupta, President Joe Biden’s drug policy director, says he wants to copy this program at every federal prison.
“Treating substance use disorder in prisons and jails is a smart move. It’s a smart move for our economic prosperity, for our safety and for the health of our nation,” Gupta said.
“We know also it has not only a diversion on overdoses, but an impact on violence, an impact on weapons smuggling. We also know and we heard from the warden about suicide. People are attempting suicide just to get the treatment. Totally unacceptable.”
He says by this summer, all 122 federal prisons will provide treatment rather than forced detox.
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A few incarcerated people shared their stories with reporters and talked about how important that treatment is. Rachel Parker says she’d rather face death than detox in jail, while your emotional state is already so fragile.
“I had been on suboxone up until I got locked up in January, and when I came in, like previously, I had to withdraw,” said Parker, “but when I came in they got me right on suboxone and I was able to continue my treatment while I was in here.”
Freddie Flores says he’s been in and out of this jail several times in the last 20 years, and he hopes this treatment will help him kick his drug addiction for good this time.
“Now, I know I have to go through these resources to stay out and get away from coming back to these places,” Flores said.
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The warden says they came up with this solution after many people in jail attempted suicide so they could get the treatment they needed rather than go through withdrawal.
And he says the jail has simply been quieter and more peaceful without so many people suffering from withdrawal.
Without proper treatment, studies show recidivism rates and overdose rates soar for recently released prisoners.
There’s no official calculation on how much this will cost and how much of the total will be covered by state and federal governments.