Benton Co. Jail keeping treatment program despite shakeup
KENNEWICK, Wash. -- It's been eight months since the Benton County Jail started a program to help inmates overcome their opioid addictions, and experts say they're impressed.
But with Benton county commissioners taking over the jail, will it continue?
Ideal Option's chief medical officer Jeffrey Allgaier says he isn't concerned about the recent shake up.
"We shouldn't see any changes in the program at all," he explains. "The entire leadership in the jail is fantastic to work with. We know them well and we don't think the program is going to lose a step."
He says Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT) is a program helping inmates get off opioids and into treatment while behind bars is the way of the future.
Specifically the MAT program developed in Tri-Cities, a program experts are starting to replicate.
"The question around the country is, 'How are you doing it'?" he says. "How are you able to take care of every person with opioid abuse disorder in a jail?"
Allgaier says the large number of inmates in the program is exactly why they're so successful.
The doctor says most jails only help a few inmates in their struggle, but Benton county treats all of them.
Since launching eight months ago Benton County Jail's program has enrolled 1,300 inmates; Olympia Bupe Clinic comes in second 629 enrollments in a similar time-frame.
Recent numbers released in a report from Washington State Opioid Response show less than seven percent of program graduates are getting re-arrested for new crimes.
He says normally jails see recidivism rate around 40 or 50%.
"It's cruel to put those folks through bad withdrawals but if you have the right medication they don't have to [endure] that," Allgaier explains. "[Instead] you'll have inmates feeling normal while in the jail, and when they get out they're not running to their drug dealer."
"We have to recognize that the person you hide your purse from has a disease that can be intervened upon and treated," says Dr. Andrea Barthwell. "Because treatment works."
Renowned for contributions to Addiction Medicine, Dr. Barthwell is a member of Ideal Option's Clinical Advisory Council.
She also served as former Deputy Director for Demand Reduction at the Office for National Drug Control Policy under George W. Bush.
"This model needs to be replicated across the country," she says. "We've seen people get arrested because their addiction drives criminal behavior that brings them to the attention of police. If we're able to stabilize their disease we can interrupt that."
Barthwell says you don't get that benefit until the inmate goes through withdrawals, the MAT program renders the most unpleasant step unnecessary.
"We have a tool called Buprenorphine that we're using in jails to help alleviate the withdrawal so people can be engaged in their treatment response immediately," she says. "It's definitely working."
Barthwell says a number of factors contribute to the success of Ideal Option's MAT program.
- Screening every new inmate
- Getting those struggling with addiction on medicine immediately
- Making appointments with community-based providers
"When [inmates] are supported by providers in the community, they have someone will be there when they're released," she says. "Someone to welcome them into a more normalized environment to continue their care is tremendously important."
Dr. Barthwell says most institutions of society fail people with an addiction.
"Because of stigma and a sense of hopelessness we have about it, but we have hope today based upon what we're seeing right here."
She says ongoing relationships like those started at Benton County Jail are motivating inmates to stay out of trouble.
Dr. Allgaier has high hopes for the program already being adopted in Snohomish County.
"Ground-zero is right here, because of the program and partnership between Benton County Jail leadership and Ideal Option," he says. "We're getting requests now from all over the United States. If we can get this replicated around the country, that would be life-saving for tens of thousands of people."
- For more information on how Benton County's MAT program compares: Opioid Treatment Network Monthly Summary Report.