COLUMBUS, Ind. — The Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department is seeking additional funding in next year’s county budget to expand its newly-launched jail drug addiction treatment program.
Jail addiction treatment coordinator Theresa Patton is calling for increasing the participation of female inmates in her programs by 25% to 50% above current levels next year. If her proposal is approved, there will be 18 to 21 women in each treatment group next year.
For the men, Patton’s proposal calls for a 50% to 100% increase, so between 12 to 30 male inmates could receive treatment as a group.
In order to achieve these increases, additional help is needed. Patton is asking that her current budget of $114,995 be more than doubled in 2021 to hire the necessary personnel. She is requesting an additional $144,915 to hire a full-time addiction recovery counselor and two part-time addiction recovery coaches/specialists, Chief Deputy Sheriff Maj. Chris Lane said.
The requests were made during county budget hearings that began Monday before the Bartholomew County Council.
For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.
