Columbus officials have approved an interlocal agreement between the city and Bartholomew County to add a new jail addiction treatment program coordinator to the county jail staff.
The Columbus Board of Public Works and Safety approved the agreement on Tuesday.
Mary Ferdon, the city’s executive director of administration and community development, said the goal is for the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress (ASAP) to hire a program coordinator this fall to become acquainted with the jail, develop a curriculum and train employees for the program. Inmates would be accepted into the program in 2020.
The city and county councils both approved funding of the program coordinator for 2019 and split the cost in half, each paying $28,750.
“The concept is you have inmates who are sitting in a jail who are sober and have reached the point where they really do want help,” said Ferdon, who also serves as a facilitator for ASAP. “This gives them a start so that when they’re released, they would move to The Hub to continue treatment.”
Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Maj. Chris Lane told the Columbus City Council in June that the idea of the program is to reduce recidivism by offering inmates with substance abuse problems evidence-based treatment and to help them develop life skills to re-enter the community after being released from jail.
Lane said he hopes inmates who successfully complete the program can then enroll into other programs already in place, such as the Women Recovering with a Purpose (WRAP) and Recovery Enables a Life for Men (REALM) programs.
City attorney Alan Whitted said inmates in the jail addiction treatment program will be housed in a segregated part of the jail from the rest of the population, because if they’re dispersed among the general jail population, “the efficacy of the program diminishes.”
“They really need to be in their own kind of group where they can work together and try to achieve sobriety while they’re in jail and learn some of the fundamentals, then be ready at the end,” Whitted said.
“That’s really the time when they’re incarcerated that they’re really thinking about how they should make changes in their lives and be in a position to move into some substantive treatment options once the court determines they’re eligible for release.”
Chuck Doup, a Columbus resident and member of the ASAP board, said asked the Columbus Board of Works if they were sure that they could fit in the participating inmates into a group setting despite current jail overcrowding.
“Talking with the sheriff and his administration, I think they’re working on trying to open up the old section of the jail for this program and to address the overcrowding — mainly to address the overcrowding,” Whitted responded. “This is a happy byproduct.”
Ferdon said this will also help alleviate overcrowding in the main part of the jail by “bleeding off enough people to relieve space issues.”
“Hopefully we can find some success with this as people are released and they can move into another in-treatment or other kinds of treatments,” Ferdon said.
This is one of several programs ASAP, the City of Columbus and Bartholomew County have put in place to address the county’s opioid crisis. The local government entities recently adopted the the Recovery Enables a Life for Men program (REALM) within Community Corrections and the Adult Drug Recovery Court.
REALM is housed in the Bartholomew County Community Corrections Center at the back of the county jail, with 15 individuals in the residential treatment program at a time. It provides comprehensive, evidence-based residential treatment focusing on substance abuse needs.
The Bartholomew County Adult Drug Recovery Court, which took off earlier this year, creates a team focused on rebuilding lives so individuals can re-enter the community rather than continue a cycle of repeated arrests and jail time.
Board member John Pickett applauded the city and the county for stepping up and working jointly to prioritize these programs, calling their initiative within itself a success.
The Bartholomew County Commissioners will consider the inter-local agreement later this month.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”About the program” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
The idea of the Bartholomew County Jail addiction treatment program is to reduce recidivism by offering inmates with substance abuse problems evidence-based treatment and to help them develop life skills to re-enter the community after being released from jail.
Inmates would be housed in a segregated part of the jail away from the general jail population where they will work together, learn the fundamentals then be ready to transition into another type of treatment once the court determines their release.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
