Saturday, April 16, 2016

Keeping it local: "U.S. Jails Are Killing People Going Through Opioid Withdrawals."

This:

Inmate found dead in Floyd County Jail (Taste of Clark County)

Floyd County Sheriff Frank Loop said 23-year-old Hanna Robb, Jeffersonville, was found unresponsive by a corrections officer around 8:15 a.m. Robb was in a holding cell with about nine other inmates near the booking area. Loop said the corrections officer was doing a regular cell check when Robb was discovered.

And this:

U.S. Jails Are Killing People Going Through Opioid Withdrawals, by Jeremy Galloway (Huff Post)

The overdose crisis has touched almost every corner of the United States. According to the CDC over 47,000 people died from overdoses in 2014, most from opioids like heroin, hydrocodone, OxyContin, morphine and fentanyl.

These deaths can be preventable with access to naloxone and education about overdose prevention and harm reduction. Most states have passed naloxone access and 911 medical amnesty (or “Good Samaritan”) laws in recent years. But that’s only the first step, and there are critical gaps in implementing those laws on the ground.

One of the widest gaps is in our corrections system. People are dying from overdoses in significant numbers shortly after they’re released, we know that. But they’re also dying within weeks of being arrested.

And finally, this:

Hanna's life ended tragically at twenty-three years old, while she lay on the cold holding cell floor (for six days) in the Floyd County Detention Center (Indiana). After appearing before a judge (for a misdemeanor charge), she was abused, neglected, and in desperate need of medical treatment, which was not afforded to her. This tragedy could and should have been prevented.

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