Greene County jail to store nalaxone
WAYNESBURG – Two doses of the heroin overdose antidote naloxone will be stored at Greene County jail should the unprecedented situation of an inmate overdosing on an opioid while inside the facility occur.
Greene County Prison Board voted unanimously Thursday to purchase two doses of the nasal spray for $150 from McCracken’s Pharmacy in Waynesburg pending approval of a written procedure and training for the jail staff.
The drug immediately reverses the effects of an opioid to save a person from a potentially deadly overdose.
Jail Warden Harry Gillispie said they never had an overdose at the jail during his 30-year tenure, and he solicited feedback from county jail wardens from across the state to see if they stock the drug at their facilities. Jails in York, Montgomery, Chester and Lackawanna counties store the drug, but are split between using the nasal spray and a more expensive injectable version.
Gillispie said none of those jails has administered the antidote, although one inmate in Montgomery County needed to be revived by medics who used naloxone in an ambulance on the way to the hospital.
Carole Rusnak of Cost Management Plus Inc., a nursing consultant whose organization provides cost analysis and information to counties about the medical care provided at their jails, suggested last month that Greene County stock the drug should an incoming inmate happen to swallow large quantities of heroin or other drugs before being brought to the jail.
That prompted the prison board to ask Gillispie to investigate whether naloxone should be stored at the jail. He found there was a wide range of prices between the nasal spray, which expires after one year, the injectable pens that cost $1,800 each, and a 10-pack of pre-filled syringes that cost $400 total.
Greene County Sheriff Brian Tennant said the nasal spray would be the least intrusive and best suited to be used in the jail.
“I think the nasal spray requires less training and is more acceptable, is my understanding,” Tennant said.
District Attorney Marjorie Fox questioned whether the antidote was needed since the jail has never experienced an overdose. She and Greene County President Judge Farley Toothman engaged in a brief discussion over the merits of stocking the drug at the jail.
“If we haven’t had an incident, what’s the reason for having it?” Fox said.
“It saves lives,” Toothman said.
Fox worried about the legal ramifications for the jail staff if officers are unable to save an inmate’s life.
“I’m just concerned this is a solution to solve a problem,” she said.
“It’s an opportunity to save a life,” Toothman responded.
Gillispie said he will work to implement a procedure on how to administer the drug and will ask Dr. Morris Harper, who serves as the jail’s physician, to train the staff before the naloxone doses are purchased.
Also during the meeting, the prison board agreed unanimously to upgrade the jail’s surveillance camera system.
Gillispie said the current system shows a “choppy picture” of photographed segments every three to five seconds and is not in real-time. The new IP Camera System will allow officers to zoom into area and hold the video for up to a month – and even longer under some circumstances – to use as evidence at a later date.
The county will pay $67,764 to Fire Fighter Sales and Service for the equipment and installation.
Gillispie also reported two prisoner assaults over the past month. The one occurred in the recreation yard between two inmates, although that was quelled quickly after a minor tussle, Gillispie said. The second involved one inmate who “sucker punched” another while in line to receive a meal, Gillispie said, causing the injured inmate to be knocked unconscious. Gillispie said a shift supervisors was forced to use a Taser on the attacker and the situation was brought under control.