Opioid Users Are Filling Jails. Why Don’t Jails Treat Them?
When people run out of drugs, they’re going to start stealing, committing crime.”
Officials say the treatment has shown promise in reducing fatalities
and making inmates more likely to continue treatment once they are released, and Mr. Feliciano said the behavior of addicted inmates improved.
They’re like, ‘Oh, you junkies, go get your juice.’ Then they put all our names on the board so everybody in the dorm knows who’s on methadone.”
But for the first time in years, Mr. Mason has allowed himself to envision a future free of heroin —
and along with it, the hustles and thefts necessary to support an addiction.
A man with a longtime heroin addiction, Mr. Mason was entering one of the deadliest windows for jailed users returning to the streets:
the first two weeks after release, when they often make the mistake of returning to a dose their body can no longer handle.
When Mr. Mason landed back in jail on a probation violation, he got in a fight
and was rejected by the program, forcing him into methadone withdrawal, considered far more agonizing than heroin withdrawal.
In New Haven, Mr. Mason, who started injecting heroin at age 17, represents an unexpected
success, officials say, given the length and severity of his addiction.
Mr. Mason met up with his girlfriend, Dani Herget, who at the time also used heroin;
slept outdoors; panhandled for money; and used a wide variety of street drugs.
