Associated Press
CINCINNATI — A sheriff hopes to establish a $1.5 million heroin detox center at a southwestern Ohio county jail to treat as many as 1,000 women break their addiction while incarcerated.
Media outlets report the goal of Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil’s plan is to provide more attention and better care to addicts, thus reducing the number of inmates passing through the jail for heroin-related offenses.
Officials say more than 9,000 of the 20,000 inmates locked up at the Hamilton County Justice Center in Cincinnati last year were heroin addicts.
The 18-bed, 1,500-square-foot facility would serve only women.
The proposed center would provide addicted inmates with peer counseling, nursing care, treatment programs and other services.
Currently, inmates detoxing from heroin are provided only with vitamins and some over-the-counter pain killers.