The Clearfield County Prison Board held a discussion Tuesday with Tom Weber, representative of PrimeCare, which is the county’s provider for Medication-assisted treatment at the Clearfield County Jail.
Weber stated that he wanted to ensure that the lines of communication are open and working between the two entities and talked a little about the MAT Program at the jail.
He said currently they have been providing medication to people who were already receiving it when they entered CCJ, including insulin, heart medications and so on.
They have also been treating people who were on Methadone by slowly taking them off of that and transferring them to Buprenorphine (also known as Subutex).
Weber said they are starting to diagnose inmates now with certain diseases, such as diabetes, and treating it, and are offering inmates Buprenorphine.
It was noted that on the rare occasion a pregnant inmate comes in and is also on methadone, she will continue to receive that drug in order to protect the baby.
Commissioner Dave Glass asked Weber if there has been any study done on the different methods of providing the opioid use disorder drugs to inmates, stating that he knows the current medication takes a good deal of time for the corrections officers to administer while another drug, Vivitrol, an injectable and takes less time as it is administered only once a month.
Weber didn’t say anything about a study but did note that the different drugs have similar effects but inmates often don’t want to take Vivitrol because it also treats alcohol dependence.
He said often someone will decide they’re ready to get off of meth or heroin, but still want the alcohol use that Vivitrol suppresses.
Glass said that the county has a grant through the state to start providing Vivitrol to inmates, but they have been sitting on the grant and waiting to see if the General Assembly reissues Act 80 and expands it.
The board also discussed the matter of work release again. Warden Krisha Oates said there are currently three inmates on work release with an additional two that could be eligible.
She said she and the deputy warden are working to expand the criteria so that more inmates would be eligible, but there is still a problem with not having employers willing to take inmates if they do not already have employment.
Oates has contacted several businesses in the county but they have all said they are not interested. In the past there has also be a problem with inmates being released and then not showing up for work.
If any business would be willing to have inmates from CCJ work for them, they can contact Oates or Deputy Warden McQuillen.
An extraordinary occurrence was also briefly discussed where an inmate was acting aggressively and erratically, refusing to give up blankets he used to cover up the gate to his cell, struggling with corrections officers, refusing to leave the detox shower, etc.
Oates said that none of the officers were badly injured and recently she interviewed the inmate who apologized to her and commended the staff for their professionalism during the incident.
Oates explained that this is a problem they occasionally encounter when an inmate is in detox, and later they are quiet and apologetic for their actions.
The next Prison Board meeting is scheduled for May 13 at noon.
