Mercer County Jail Awarded $450K To Battle Addiction

MERCER COUNTY, NJ — The Mercer County Jail is receiving $450,000 from the state to provide medication-assisted treatment to prisoners who are battling an opioid addiction, state officials announced.

It is part of $7.8 million in funding for county jails statewide that will also create community partnerships to ensure that treatment continues after prisoners are released.

“Individuals leaving jail are particularly vulnerable to opioid overdose, and the death rate post-release from jail is significantly higher than in the overall population,” Human Services Commissioner Carole Johnson said. “It is imperative that we treat people with opioid use disorder with the clinical standard of care before they are released and maintain treatment post-release. We are pleased that the County Wardens are partnering with us in this critical effort to provide medication-assisted opioid treatment. We look forward to working together with them to turn the tide of this epidemic.”

“Individuals who suffer from substance use disorder that are existing county correctional facilities are particularly vulnerable to overdose,” Acting Corrections Commissioner Marcus O. Hicks said. “This collaboration that includes Medication-Assisted Treatment and critical support post-release is imperative to maintaining these individuals on a recovery trajectory.”

Funding for this initiative is made possible through Governor Murphy’s Opioid Initiative. It is an extension of a program in which Human Services and the Department of Corrections partner to bring addiction treatment into state prisons.

“Through this powerful collaboration, we are connecting them to lifesaving treatment at a catalytic moment and getting individuals back on track to leading healthy and fulfilling lives,” Acting Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said. “From a public health perspective, it is these types of bold and evidence-based initiatives that will ultimately lead to reducing the stigma around the epidemic and getting us to the other side.”

The first phase of this initiative was a pilot program in Atlantic County supported by the Department of Human Services through which the Atlantic County jail began providing medication-assisted treatment to individuals in the facility with opioid use disorder and connecting them to treatment post-release. The county jail partners with the John Brooks Recovery Center.