Ohio state grant to help tackle drug, MH problems among inmates

A $250,000‐a‐year three‐year grant from the Ohio Attorney General's Office will work to address the drug addiction and mental health problems for inmates at the Trumbull County jail, the Tribune Chronicle reported. Sheriff Michael Wilson, joined last week by Attorney General Dave Yost, said: “This will provide services to people with these issues. We take alcohol and drug addiction issues seriously.” Yost said when he was Delaware County prosecutor from 2003 to 2010, “drug addiction and mental health issues were predominant among the jail population and it's only gotten worse in intervening years. Our county jails have become high‐priced housing for the mentally ill and the drug addicted.” Yost recently set aside $60 million in opioid settlement money to help reduce fatal overdoses in Ohio's jails. The office's Opioid Remediation Grant Program is awarding up to $200,000 a year for three years to county jails to hire full‐time addiction‐services staff and another $50,000 a year for three years to fund medications and supplies for inmates experiencing opioid withdrawal. The first round of grants were announced March 31 with Trumbull County getting the maximum $750,000 in funding. The funding will be used to help offset the costs of two full‐time social workers and a part‐time nurse at the county jail. Wilson said he expects to hire the employees shortly. “The inmates receive a very small amount of mental health treatment,” Wilson said. “This will double the time we have with them.”