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Yakima County jail reports fewer overdoses, expands treatment and contraband controls
Summary
Yakima County Department of Corrections Director Jeremy Welch told commissioners the jail reduced drug overdoses, launched a medication‑assisted treatment program and a canine contraband unit in 2024, while rolling out a body scanner and wearable health bracelets ahead of larger 2025 cost‑reduction and reentry goals.
Yakima County Department of Corrections Director Jeremy Welch told the Board of Yakima County Commissioners on Feb. 3 that the jail cut confirmed drug overdoses from 22 in 2023 to 11 in 2024 and widened efforts to treat substance use and reduce contraband entering the facility.
Welch said the jail began a medication‑assisted treatment (MOUD) program with Comprehensive Health Care in March 2024 and started inductions later that year. “We currently have 32 [people] on the program,” Welch said, and 36 clients successfully transferred to continued care after release. He said the program moved from continuing outside prescriptions to allowing new inductions in custody.
The department also launched a canine contraband unit and deployed a Smiths detection body scanner in November 2024. Welch said canine Luca and handler Officer Zanatelli have executed more than 160 deployments, searched more than 600 environments and seized drugs and other contraband. The body scanner returned about 13 percent anomalous scans in 1,037 full‑body scans; one scan revealed ammunition concealed on a person.
Welch described other medical and behavioral‑health activity: more than 3,100 provider sick‑call visits, nearly 2,000 psychiatric medication prescriptions, 2,735 mental‑health bookings and 1,015 referrals to a psychiatric provider. He said the jail flagged 4,964 bookings for substance use and 640 for mental‑health concerns; those flags reflect screening and self‑reporting rather than clinical diagnoses.
On safety and monitoring, Welch said the jail used wearable health bracelets after an October rollout. Staff responded within about a minute to alarms; seven responses required medical intervention. He also said use‑of‑force incidents fell from 77 in 2022 to 61 in 2024, and inmate‑on‑inmate assaults declined over the same period.
Looking ahead, Welch said he is pursuing operational cost reductions he estimates could save about $1.2 million going into 2026, expanding the canine program, growing the MOUD program and participating in the Medicaid 1115 reentry waiver (target go‑live January 2026) to bill some internal medical services to Medicaid. He said the department plans a reentry services team, additional housing contracts, and a facility design study to seek state funding for a future jail design.
