KENT COUNTY, Mich. — Kent County Corrections implements the final phase of its Medication Assisted Treatment program. It aims to help people who enter jail, detox from drugs, and tries to set them up for success before they're released.
"Illegal drug use is absolutely a determinant to return to jail," said Michelle Lajoye-Young, Kent County Sheriff. "We had I believe in that year, we had seven people who were released and died within two weeks."
Drug use and jail time is a deadly cycle, one that Kent County Corrections is working to break. When the program was launched in 2018, it helped 127 people.
The program works in phases, starting with helping people who enter the jail to detox.
"One of the tools in our toolbox is to use medically assisted treatment, which can help stabilize the chemicals in their brain and their bodies and help them fight that urge to go back into illicit drug use," he said.
The department then provides counseling and prior to release, they're set up with outside resources like sobriety programs and access to Naloxone, the opioid-reversal drug.
"This program has been pretty successful in helping people transition," the sheriff told FOX 17.
Now, the focus is on identifying people already incarcerated and helping them with their substance use disorder.
Right now, this is the only program in the state that has fully implemented induction of a Medical Assisted Treatment program.
Currently, the jail has four MAT employees who work with about 100 people monthly. The goal
is to expand by applying for funding through opioid settlement funds.
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