BRIGHTON, N.Y. -- Just this week the first Monroe County Jail inmate got a shot of Vivitrol, a drug officials are hoping will help inmates kick the habit, help them along with treatment and keep them alive.
"We have been in preparation phase for a number of months," said Craig Johnson said, jail drug and alcohol programs director. "We don't take this lightly."
Johnson says a jail inmate, scheduled to be released at the end of the week, was the first at the jail to get a shot of Vivitrol before he leaves. Vivitrol is an opiate blocker.
"If you use the opiate and you've had a Vivitrol shot you don't get high," Johnson said.
There are just over 1300 inmates in the Monroe County Jail and Johnson says 90 percent of them have substance abuse problems and are getting some kind of treatment while inside.
The goal he says is that once released, the inmates continue treatment with that shot of Vivitrol to get them past those first few days.
"If they relapse they often try to go back to that same dose that they had before," Johnson said. "Now their tolerance has dropped substantially so they end up overdosing. So if people get this shot before they leave, which is what we're starting to do, it will prevent the overdose."
It could also, they hope, help prevent more crime. The shot, which the jail receives for free, only lasts for 30 days. So officials also try to help inmates get connected to area drug treatment programs before they leave to keep them from landing right back in here again.
"If we provide treatment in jail, and do good referrals and connections to the community post release, we have data that shows that can dramatically drive that recidivism number down," Johnson said. "That also translates into less costs, less crime, less victims."