CINCINNATI — When Scott Kerr first started working at the Hamilton County Justice Center, he handled addiction very differently.
“When people came in withdrawing from opioids, they went cold turkey,” Kerr said. “We pretty much put them in there and let them sweat it out for the week.”
Kerr, an administrative captain who now runs the jail, began working there two decades ago. Now, jail officials give medication to help people with withdrawal and begin recovery. But that costs money.
“The medication-assisted treatment doesn't work without the medication,” Kerr said.
He tells me officials spent more than $100,000 on addiction medication last year. And he says prices continue to go up.
“We're just doing a lot more than we used to do to try to help the people that are in here,” Kerr said.
Go inside the jail by clicking on the video below:
It's why officials applied for a grant from the Ohio Attorney General. They recently received almost $250,000.
“Our goal here is long-term recovery,” said Tom Murphy, medical director for the jail.
In April, I spoke to Murphy and got a first-hand look at some of the jail’s treatment programs.
“It's rehab for some of these patients,” Murphy told me. “We're saving lives here.”
In the U.S., two in three people in jail suffer from opioid use disorder, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. But the organization says less than half of U.S. jails provide medication to treat it.
Cheryl Bowden didn’t always understand why people with substance use disorder need medication. But working closely with people in those programs has changed her mind.
“They can't live better quality of life if they can't even stop feeling sick," Bowden said.
She’s now a therapist in a treatment program for women at the jail, which she says can actually be the best place to get through to someone.
“You get to catch them right at their lowest, where they are really vulnerable and can hear the message,” Bowden said.
It’s a message that goes beyond jail cells. Because advocates in the community tell me if progress can be made in there, it will help the entire region. In 2023, seven out of every 10 people who overdosed and died in Hamilton County spent time in jail, according to the county’s Office of Addiction Response.
Research shows that starting medications for opioid use disorder prior to release can reduce the risk of overdose death by 75%.
“We still have a lot of people that we're not reaching that we hope to,” Kerr said.
In the Justice Center, about 200 people take medication for substance use disorder. Kerr tells me closer to 500 people need it. That means they might have to turn someone away who wants help.
“We don't want to have to tell someone that,” Kerr said. “It has happened. And we don't ever want it to happen again.”
