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Sawyer County CJCC: New full‑time jail nurse hired; MAT inductions, MOU with tribal nurses advancing
Summary
The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council heard that Sawyer County hired a full‑time jail nurse funded in part by a Vital Strategies grant and is working on protocols and an MOU with Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) nurses to deliver medication‑assisted treatment (MAT) injections on site, reducing deputy transports.
A full‑time jail nurse has been hired and started work this month, and county officials said they are finalizing a memorandum of understanding to allow tribal nurses to administer MAT injections at the jail to reduce deputy transports.
The change follows a Vital Strategies grant that funded the additional nursing position. Jail staff gave the council an operational update noting the jail’s September average daily population and described steps to implement MAT inductions and coordinate care with Lac Courte Oreilles (LCO) tribal health staff.
Why it matters: placing a nurse on site and enabling on‑site injections aims to keep deputies on patrol rather than escorting inmates for treatment, and to speed initiation of MAT, which staff said is becoming a more common standard in jail health services.
Jail staff reported an average daily population of 64 inmates in September, including nine females and 55 males; probation incarceration and pre‑sentence incarceration were each listed at 23, with 18 in post‑sentence custody. At the time the report was generated, the daily count was 65 and staff noted an unemployment rate at booking of 69 percent. The new nurse — identified in the meeting as having been hired through the Vital Strategies support — has been working mornings and handling medication distribution and scheduling MAT appointments with LCO.
Council members discussed a draft MOU and a plan to have LCO nurses come on site to give injections so deputies no longer need to transport inmates for those appointments. “We can keep our deputies on the road, not transporting back and forth,” one speaker said, noting individual MAT appointments that once took 15–20 minutes now can take about an hour. Sierra, identified as a lead nurse with SHP (the county’s contractor), told the council that the county is completing a jail survey covering questions about MAT; the previous survey referenced was from 2021.
Officials said they plan to review protocols developed during an out‑of‑county exchange and to consult Wood County, which the speaker said has fully implemented a similar program. No formal policy or ordinance was adopted at the meeting; staff said the MOU and final protocol details are still being negotiated and that further updates may come to the CJCC executive committee.
Ending: Council members flagged the MAT work as a top strategy area and said they expect more updates as the MOU and induction protocols are finalized.
