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From Panic to Pivot: How Seminole County

Corrections Overcame the Pandemic

Laura E. BEdard, CJM, StaCy HEatH, and aMy ridgELy

Opioid addiction is the latest epidemic to By March 2020, both programs had been
hit the United States. Unlike drug waves in the operating fairly smoothly for nearly a year, utiliz-
1970s, ’80s and ’90s, this opioid epidemic is ing staff and volunteers. They offered a combina-
more deadly and more costly. Just as in counties tion of:
across the nation, opioid use has skyrocketed in • medication-assisted treatment for those who
Seminole County, Florida—as evidenced by the need it (we offer all forms of medication,
increase from 253 Narcan deployments and 82 including Subutex, Suboxone, Methadone,
overdose deaths in 2018 to 460 Narcan deploy- and Vivitrol); 4
ments and 83 overdose deaths in 2019. 1 • pro-social activities like yoga, music, and
For many, opioid addiction started with a rescue dogs; and
trip to the doctor for an injury or legitimate
pain management. Patients were prescribed • cognitive behavioral/trauma-based treatment
OxyContin, Oxycodone, or other highly addic- through facilitator-led groups.
tive medications. Once their legal prescriptions Many of the activities were led by community-
expired, many turned to street drugs to support based volunteers who devoted their time, energy,
their addiction, particularly heroin or fentanyl. and expertise to help the men and women who
The stories are way too common across the were incarcerated on their path to recovery.
country and, if you are in the corrections field, Monthly speakers came to the facility to
you have heard them before. Families torn apart share their experiences with addiction and their
by addiction; addicts turning to crime to sup- journeys through recovery. Community naviga-
port their habits; mothers selling their bodies to tors assisted inmates upon release and gradua-
get high; and jails left to manage the crisis inside tions were held for those who moved to the next
their facilities. step—community treatment. Both programs
were doing extremely well, and some inmates
Call to Action (getting sober for the first time) even asked the
In response to the addiction crisis, Seminole courts to extend their stay with us so they could
County Sheriff Dennis Lemma called his staff to complete our program.
action. He challenged us to find a way to offer
treatment to those inside the correctional facil- Out of the Blue
ity and to change the correctional mindset. He Then, out of the blue, we were hit with the
always says crime is the symptom of a bigger COVID-19 pandemic. Like the rest of the nation,
problem. If we can tackle the “bigger problem,” we were stopped in our tracks. No more in-
we can make our community a better place to person visitation, no educational classes with
live. 2 outside teachers, and no volunteers to lead our
The staff of the John E. Polk Correctional programs. The thought of shutting down the
Facility rose to the challenge, and on April 2, ACTT programs was devastating. We had come
2019, we opened the Accepting Change Through so far, and we had reached a healthy routine.
Treatment (ACTT) program. The program is However, instead of panicking, we decided to
a residential, intensive inpatient treatment for pivot. After all, addiction didn’t take a break
inmates housed in our 1,400-bed facility. There during the pandemic. As a matter of fact, the
is a unit for men and the ACTT ReNew program isolation is thought to have increased substance
for women. 3 abuse. 5

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