Butler County nonprofits facilitate transitional services
When an inmate is booked in the Butler County Prison, the jail’s team, including correction officers, medical providers and even the warden, can’t often anticipate the duration of the person’s stay.
With no standard stay for inmates, treating the portion of the incarcerated population who are battling addiction at the Butler County Prison is crucial, but can be challenging, according to the jail’s reintegration coordinator Matthew Clayton.
“If you go to a state prison, you know when you’re getting out,” Clayton said.
Not so for inmates in county jails, he said. Compared to state prison, releases from county jails are more complicated, and can come unexpectedly to both inmates and medical providers, creating potentially dangerous situations for those who are on the path to recovery.
“In jail, any number of things may happen,” he said, “including someone dropping charges, or the judge says, ‘time served, let’s finish this up with a probation type of situation’. ... It’s rarer to see an inmate (in a county jail) know when they get out.”
Often, those incarcerated in the county jail are detained because they are not able to afford bail, or have decided not to pay a bail bondsman.
“Sometimes, unfortunately, you can be left in limbo,” Clayton said regarding an inmate’s stay in the jail, which averages 30 days, but can run for much longer periods.
Clayton and the others offering resources or treatment to the inmates in recovery aim to devise plans that prevent relapse despite the uncertainty.
Outside of the medication-assisted treatment program, Clayton said the jail offers programming and risk screening tools to assess whether inmates have stable housing, or are in need of other external resources, like mental health treatment and access to employment upon release.
He said connecting inmates with resources while they are incarcerated, and identifying what barriers they face outside the jail, is vital to keeping them from “falling through the cracks.”
Without stable housing or a plan to continue medical treatment, recently released Butler County Prison inmates who struggle with addiction are more likely to relapse, or find themselves back behind bars, Clayton said.
“When you’re released, whatever you do is what you do,” Clayton said. “But what we try to do is release inmates with as many supports and tools as possible.”
The jail’s medication-assisted treatment program, or MAT, which allows inmates with existing prescriptions to continue taking medication for substance use disorder while incarcerated, also includes one-on-one counseling and resource support so people can continue their medical appointments once they are released.
The Ellen O’Brien Gaiser Center works in conjunction with the program to assess and counsel inmates who are also set up with contact information and referrals to ensure they don’t miss a therapy or medical appointment.
Upon release, former inmates are asked to call the Gaiser Center, said clinical supervisor Alyssa Vorel. The center has two facilities in Butler Township and one in the city of Butler.
“If you’re on MAT, we try to give you that fail-safe,” Clayton said. “If you’re released, and we didn’t know you’re going to be released, here’s Gaiser’s information — follow up with them.”
Sudden releases and transfers also pose a challenge for the Gaiser Center coordinating patient follow-up care.
“Jail’s a little bit interesting, because obviously, you know, one day we might have somebody there and the next day, they're not there,” said Joe Mahoney, executive director at the Gaiser center. “In a perfect world, we know that they’re about to get released, and they’re following that plan to get released.”
Not knowing when people in treatment are coming or going is among the biggest challenges for Gaiser, he said, which is why facilitating referrals to other organizations is critical.
“We lean on the society for the community support, because the jail can only assist with so much,” Clayton said, noting resources like Glade Run Lutheran Services and the Center for Community Resources in Butler.
According to Dawn Halle, Glade Run’s senior director, the program employs two therapists and two case managers and primarily works on inmates identified as mentally ill. Inmates in the jail’s MAT program, who are Butler County residents, are also eligible to participate in the organization’s Forensic Support Services program, which provides case management.
“Part of their role is to support reentry back into the community,” Halle said. “They set up mental health appointments, doctor appointments, housing, employment.”
Halle said the goal of connecting former inmates with resources is to ensure they have a plan to make life after incarceration tangible and feasible.
“There is a significant need for every person in (the jail),” Halle said. “And when you do have that mental health diagnosis, coupled with a criminal record, with everything else going on ... it really creates a lot of barriers for people.”
The cycle of addiction and incarceration can continue, she said, without the stability of housing or employment. If people can’t afford housing or don’t have transportation, Halle noted they may stop going to their medical appointments, or may stop taking their medication altogether.
Discontinuing medication that is prescribed to treat withdrawal symptoms suddenly and without the supervision of a doctor could lead to relapse, said Dr. C. Thomas Brophy, medical director of the Gaiser Center.
“You have an individual coming out with no support, no family, no friends that has burned bridges and no one will take them, and they can’t find employment — that puts people in very difficult positions,” Halle said.
Clayton said he often directs former inmates to walk up the hill to Main Street, where the Center for Community Resources — less than five minutes away — can help with the next steps.
There, they can find Glade Run Lutheran Services at 123 E. Diamond St. and the Center for Community Resources at 212-214 S. Main St. Both work with formerly incarcerated people to help them return to life outside jail.
“Legally, we cannot hold you anymore,” Clayton said. “So the human in us, we’re like, you know, this organization can offer you this (service).”
Halle said the organizations like Glade Run can help through the transition and urges those who are recently released from jail to reach out.
“Otherwise, release can be overwhelming,” she said. “We want to reduce recidivism, so people don’t come back to prison and make the same choices … We want to help that individual become successful so that they are now a productive, contributing member of society,” she said.
