Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier, or JUST, says there's been an increase of inmates with drug-related offenses. Broome County Sheriff David Harder disagrees, saying the jail population has actually remained steady.
However, Harder says 80 percent of the inmates have a drug and mental health issue that they are trying to address with different programs.
But the JUST organization argues the better solution would be to shrink the size and investment in jails, and support mental health and drug services.
"They're not getting medical assisted detox, so someone had a seizure going into detox and was in a coma for 10 days at the hospital," said Kevin Revier, a JUST and Truth Pharm member. "So it's not providing a healthy enviroment."
"We're doing the best we can with what we have," Harder said. "We acknowledge the fact that we're not addiction center people, we're not mental health issue people. We just take care of what we can."
Both JUST and Harder agree that recovery cannot be forced, and those addicted will only seek treatment when they are ready.