Zac Schultz:
Treatment is a key word in corrections, not only in how inmates are treated, but whether those struggling with addiction can get access to treatment. “Here & Now” reporter Aditi Debnath and PBS Wisconsin are collaborating with Wisconsin Public Radio’s “America Amplified” project, asking people what issues matter to them this election season. This is the first story in that series.

Amanda Church:
Some people don’t have anybody, and on your release day, you get your boxes and you are put out on the doorstep, like, if you have a place to go or not.

Aditi Debnath:
More than 6600 people were released from Wisconsin prisons in 2023. That’s roughly 550 every month. For those with substance use disorders, that reentry period is critical.

Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar:
And so at the time of reentry, we know that rates of returning to use, to substance use are very high. That in combination with someone having now really no tolerance, puts them at super high risk for having an overdose if they return to use.

Aditi Debnath:
Dr. Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar is a public health expert at UW-Madison. She treats patients with substance use disorders at UW’s Behavioral Health and Recovery Clinic.

Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar:
If you compare rates of overdose in Wisconsin to national numbers, we are definitely one of the states with higher overdose rates.

Amanda Church:
I was naive to a lot of that.

Aditi Debnath:
Amanda Church is a care provider at an assisted living facility in Monroe County, and a mother of two. She was released from the Taycheedah prison in Fond du Lac in 2022 for drug related offenses.

Amanda Church:
Oh, just try this. You know it’s not going to hurt you. You’ll never get addicted. And you believe that as a kid, like that you have the willpower to not get stuck using those drugs. And it goes downhill from there and fast.

Aditi Debnath:
Less than 10% of people that complete the Wisconsin Department of Corrections substance use treatment program are re-incarcerated during their first year of release, but there’s a massive wait list for the program. Alisha Kraus is the director of program services for the DOC’s adult prisons.

Alisha Kraus:
We understand that there’s a large number of our population that needs assistance in working through their substance use disorders.

Aditi Debnath:
Roughly 845 people in the DOC’s facilities are currently enrolled in a substance use disorder treatment program. Yet more than 11,000 people are on the waitlist.

Alisha Kraus:
We would like to be able to serve every single person that we come into contact with at the highest level that they need in terms of intervention and more research, more resources would allow us to do that.

Aditi Debnath:
In the current state budget, the Legislature declined to fund Evers’ proposal for expanded substance use disorder programing. That includes things like mental health education and early release opportunities. Detoxing abruptly in prison can be dangerous and ineffective in the long term.

Amanda Church:
You’d have the chills and then you’d be high. You couldn’t get comfortable, throwing up, the race thoughts because you’re just starting to get your feelings back and like, you instantly go into that regret and shame and guilt and all that.

Aditi Debnath:
Medication for opioid use disorder is one treatment that the DOC is trying to make more accessible. Dr. Salisbury-Afshar explains a couple of reasons why medications like methadone work.

Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar:
The first is we know these medications save lives. They are first line treatments.

Alisha Kraus:
We’re piloting a medication-assisted treatment program at one of our facilities in Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility, with plans already rolling out to expand that to other sites within the division.

Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar:
A second reason is that while people are incarcerated, it is the legal responsibility of the jail or the prison, whatever environment someone is in to provide adequate health care.

Aditi Debnath:
In the current budget, the Legislature provided more than $4.6 million to expand access to medication for opioid use disorder in prisons. That’s different from the rejected proposal, which sought to expand programing.

Elizabeth Salisbury-Afshar:
The third reason, I would say, is I just think this is morally imperative.

Aditi Debnath:
Morally imperative, she says, because this medication that’s not widely available in prisons can prevent overdose deaths and reduce continued drug use and reincarceration rates. Church says that she received medications meant to treat some of her withdrawal symptoms, but not her substance use disorder.

Amanda Church:
They don’t have no sympathy for that. They’re like, you know, you’re just a junkie, like, sit it out. That’s why you’re here and you’re a criminal. And a lot of the employees aren’t there to help you.

Aditi Debnath:
Experts say people in recovery from substance use need continued support, safety and community to continue their recovery.

Amanda Church:
The only support you have is the other people that are going through the same thing as you.

Demell Glenn:
Our peers, most of them feel like nobody cares, nobody understands.

Aditi Debnath:
Demell Glenn is a peer support specialist at Just Dane, a nonprofit that supports people affected by incarceration.

Demell Glenn:
If you’ve been through addiction and you’ve been to prison for 15 years and now you’re doing this, I want to know how you did that.

Aditi Debnath:
He says his own path to recovery could have started earlier if he’d had someone to relate to.

Demell Glenn:
I want to know how you got here because I’ve been trying to do this for 20 years, and I’ve been failing for 20 years.

Aditi Debnath:
Glenn makes himself accessible as a lifeline to people who are in crisis and want to use again.

Demell Glenn:
I just let them know, like, hey, before you make that decision, call me, please. And I’ve had individuals call me like, hey, you know, I’m in a bad spot. I, I want to use. I, you know, this isn’t going right. And I’m like, well, where are you? Let’s talk.

Aditi Debnath:
For Demell Glenn and Amanda Church, recovery is an active choice to make every day.

Amanda Church:
It’s hard to get out of that unless like something dramatically changes your life and getting caught was probably the best thing that happened to me.

Demell Glenn:
Your contribution to this community is important, way more important than addiction or incarceration.

Aditi Debnath:
For “Here & Now,” I’m Aditi Debnath.