US Attorney Andrew E. Lelling’s investigation into the treatment of addicted prisoners focuses on the Department of Correction, which runs the state prisons where people stay for long sentences.
But the investigation apparently does not extend to facilities, run by county sheriffs, where people are incarcerated for shorter periods of time — jails where inmates await trial or houses of correction where they stay for sentences of less than 2½ years.
Kevin Maccioli, spokesman for Middlesex County Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian, who is president of the Massachusetts Sheriffs Association, said he was unaware of any sheriff receiving a letter from Lelling like the one he sent to state officials this week questioning the treatment of addicted prisoners.
But the 13 county jails are where inmates typically go immediately after arrest, and where they will go into withdrawal from drugs if they are addicted. And notably, a couple of the county facilities are working to address the issue raised in Lelling’s letter.
Lelling wrote to state officials that he was investigating whether the state was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by requiring inmates who have been taking medications for addiction to stop once incarcerated. Prisons in Massachusetts, and in most other states, do not provide the two main medications to treat addiction — buprenorphine and methadone — because those same drugs can also be smuggled in for illicit use.
But an inmate who arrives at the Franklin County House of Correction in Greenfield will be treated differently.
Since 2016, Franklin County inmates who have been taking prescribed buprenorphine have been able to keep taking the medication while incarcerated there. A total of 157 inmates have received the drug since the program started.
Starting this year, Franklin County has expanded its program, also initiating buprenorphine treatment for opioid-addicted inmates. Today 27 of the facility’s 225 inmates are receiving buprenorphine, according to Assistant Superintendent Ed Hayes.
But it’s not cheap. The county spends about $350,000 a year to provide buprenorphine to about 30 people each day, Hayes said. A $100,000 state grant awarded last year helps but doesn’t pay all the bills, he said.
The Hampden County House of Correction was also a recipient of a $100,000 state grant to improve the treatment of addicted prisoners. There, opioid-addicted inmates receive tapered doses of buprenorphine to treat withdrawal symptoms. They also can start on buprenorphine shortly before release.
Other county facilities — including the biggest, Middlesex County — have expressed interest in a long-acting, injected form of buprenorphine. As a once-a-month shot, this new formulation would not be susceptible to illicit use and would be easier to administer. But although the Food and Drug Administration approved it late last year, the drug is not yet widely available.
Lelling’s letter also addressed another group of people affected by prison policy: those who are detained, not because they’ve committed a crime, but because a judge has civilly committed them for addiction treatment, under Section 35 of state law.
More than half the men civilly committed for addiction treatment in Massaschusetts are sent to a facility run by the Department of Correction, where they do not receive buprenorphine or methadone. Lelling’s letter emphasized that these men, like the inmates, are also protected by the ADA.
Women and some men who are civilly committed go to facilities that offer all addiction-treatment medications.
Felice J. Freyer can be reached at felice.freyer@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @felicejfreyer
