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Jail population near record; county says state will cover opioid‑treatment meds through FlowState
Summary
Jackson County jail averaged 42.33 inmates per day in September, prompting supervisors to schedule a budget work session and accept that the state's ASO will bill for MOUD medications through the county's telehealth provider, FlowState, to avoid local doctor‑visit expenses.
The Jackson County jail recorded a recent average of 42.33 inmates per day in September, with a high count of 45 and a current census of 39, the county's jail administrator told the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 7. The administrator said 17 inmates were from Vaxon County and 22 were from Scott County; the facility logged 34 bookings in September and served 3,276 meals that month.
The administrator said revenue from housing outside inmates fell even as the facility ran near capacity because a larger share of detainees were Jackson County residents. He told supervisors the county will pursue a work session in late October to forecast food‑budget needs through the end of the fiscal year. "Average of 42.33 inmates per day, with the high count being 45," the administrator said when presenting the figures.
Supervisors also asked whether medication‑assisted treatment would require new in‑house procedures. The administrator said the county's ASO will cover MOUD medications and that the county's telehealth psychiatric vendor, FlowState, will handle prescribing and billing: "...they are gonna cover that as part of substance use disorder," he said. Staff noted additional medication‑management training via ILEA may be pursued but that prescribing and purchases will be routed through FlowState so the county avoids direct doctor‑visit billing.
Board members pressed for clarity on who dispenses medications and whether deputies or correctional officers would administer them per medical direction; staff said FlowState's telehealth model and ASO billing will be the primary mechanism and that the county will present a detailed operations and cost forecast at the planned work session.
Next steps: staff will prepare a fiscal forecast for the jail's food and operational lines for the board's late‑October work session and will return with more granular cost estimates, including water and utility impacts tied to higher occupancy.
