Jail specialist outlines MAT, reentry and housing gaps amid growing program demand

Logan Budick, the county’s substance-abuse and mental-health crisis specialist in the jail, briefed commissioners on the jail’s opioid-use-disorder (OUD) treatment program and its expansion since implementation. Budick said the county now screens every incoming inmate for substance use or withdrawal risk and maintains consistent on-site counseling via two workers added for weekly coverage.

"So, yeah, I'm Logan. I am the substance abuse mental health, crisis specialist in the jail," Budick told the board. He described arrangements to continue Suboxone and methadone for inmates who were already prescribed those medications on arrest, and to set up MAT and outpatient appointments for inmates upon release. Budick said partnerships with Catholic Human Services and community mental health (CMH) have improved continuity but highlighted practical barriers: Medicaid coverage often lapses during incarceration, housing and transportation options are limited, and some shelters restrict residents by county residency, complicating placements for people released to other counties.

Budick outlined plans for program growth over the next year: gender-separate anger-management and substance-counseling groups led by trained staff, closer collaboration with the prosecutor and jail staff on petitions and inpatient placements, and exploration of tablet-based reentry programming that offers employment and housing navigation. Commissioners praised the program’s progress and asked follow-up questions about funding and whether the county’s CMH would cover added responsibilities during staff vacancies.