Regional Jail in Kentucky Settles DOJ Complaint, Agrees to Provide Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder
by Douglas Ankney
On November 29, 2023, the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center in Eastern Kentucky settled a complaint brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) with an agreement to provide medication to prisoners suffering with opioid use disorder (OUD).
According to the agreement, DOJ received a complaint from a medical provider that the Jail refused to provide buprenorphine to a patient identified as “J.F.”—despite the detainee’s medical prescription for the drug. DOJ substantiated allegations that the Jail effectively banned medication for OUD, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. ch. 126 § 12101 et seq.
That law prohibits disability-based discrimination by any “public entity”—including denial of “services provided in connection with drug rehabilitation.” OUD is considered a disability because those who suffer with it “have drug addiction—a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of their major life activities,” as defined in 28 C.F.R. § 35.108. Methadone, naltrexone and buprenorphine are medications approved to treat OUD by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Rather than litigate the matter, the Jail agreed not to “change or discontinue” any detainee’s use of a medication for OUD without “an individualized determination by a qualified medical provider that the treatment is no longer medically appropriate.” In addition, Jail officials agreed to use no “incentives, rewards, or punishments to encourage or discourage” taking medication for OUD and to deny no “health services, or services provided in connection with drug rehabilitation, to an individual on the basis of that individual’s current illegal drug use.”
The Jail also agreed to medically evaluate all those in custody for OUD and provide treatment with an FDA-approved medication when requested. Jail personnel must also receive training in Title II of ADA and notify DOJ within 14 days of any written or oral complaint that the Jail has engaged in disability discrimination with regard to OUD treatment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Pond negotiated the settlement as part of DOJ’s ongoing effort to combat OUD. See: ADA Settlement Agreement Between the United States of America and Big Sandy Regional Jail, DJ No. 204-30-103 (2023).