LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The overdose reversing drug, NARCAN, is now available throughout Louisville's jail with an alarm that calls for help if the life-saving box is opened. As WHAS11 witnessed it during a tour of the jail, the false alarm demonstration sent corrections officers running through the halls to respond.
"And when individuals leave, there is a NARCAN vending machine as people exit the facility that they can get for free," Kungu Njuguna, ACLU-KY's policy strategist, said.
It's an effort to stop overdose deaths at Metro Corrections, one of many changes made since Director Jerry Collins arrived.
Njuguna credited Collins for allowing the activists inside the jail for educational programs and voting registration. It's an example of how Community Stakeholders for Change at LMDC—which has met outside the jail, in the park, mourning the deaths over the past three years—has been critical of the jail but also has worked with them on changes over the years.
"We meet quarterly; in fact, we met just this week," the strategist said.
While Njuguna wants better visitation for inmates, he acknowledged that the free calls inmates can make on newly assigned tablets is a good change.
Also on the jail's horizon—an infirmary inside that's under construction.
It will improve security by lowering the number of transports jail staff perform, while also providing greater healthcare.
Its single-cell holds for incarcerated people at risk of self-harm are also slated for vital monitoring improvements—which use radar to read heart rate and breathing.
The additions show how corrections officers juggle their responsibilities to those in their care.
"In the same day, they can be a mental health counselor, they can be a police officer, they can be a EMT, and usually they're always the first ones there," Collins said.
While Collins and Njuguna applaud improved conditions, the ACLU strategist worries too many people enter jail in the first place.
"We need mental health beds, detox beds, not cages," he said. "That's what this community should be focused on. That's what our budget should be paying for, and we don't think enough of that money goes to prevention. Instead, we're spending way too much money locking people up who need our help and compassion."
Njuguna said because one death is too many, progress must continue.
In addition to the physical and technological improvements at the jail, Collins is seeking a raise for all Corrections employees on their contract, calling it professional pay for professional work.
Metro Council will vote on that next month when they return from break.
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