Jail offering anti-overdose drug to exiting inmates

Alameda County jail officials have started offering at-risk inmates a potentially lifesaving parting gift upon their release, handing out the overdose-reversing drug naloxone to those prone to opioid abuse.

Since beginning the program in September, the agency has offered 78 departing inmates the nasal spray Narcan — a brand name for naloxone — as part of their discharge medications. Fifty-six of these people accepted the offer.

“We don’t expect every inmate to have their own health care,” said Alameda County sheriff ’s Lt. Ross Clippinger, who works with the jails. “So, we’re trying to bridge that gap.”

The program is part of a multilayered effort to distribute as many spray devices as possible amid the nationwide opioid epidemic. The sheriff ’s office has also equipped employees with the devices to use inside jails and on the streets.

In the past two years, sheriff ’s officials have administered Narcan to Santa Rita Jail inmates at least eight times and three times to members of the public outside jails. The department credits Narcan with saving two investigators last summer after they were accidentally exposed to fentanyl.

Other jails across the country have offered similar programs, but Alameda County’s is the first of its kind in the Bay Area, said Thom Duddy, vice president of corporate communications for Narcan’s manufacturer, Adapt Pharma.

Chicago’s Cook County Jail, the largest single-site jail in the

U.S., is also putting Narcan in the hands of outgoing at-risk inmates. New Mexico made the policy a statewide law in 2017, requiring all inmates with a history of opioid abuse to be given two doses of the drug upon release.

Addicts recently released from lockup are considered especially vulnerable, as their tolerance for opioids often drops while they’re incarcerated.

“This is one of the highest-risk populations for an overdose,” Duddy said.

Alameda County also provides patient education upon release, like tips for safer drug usage to reduce harm, recognizing signs of an overdose and how to use Narcan.

The distribution plan isn’t a fail-safe, Clippinger noted. Many people don’t realize they’re overdosing and try to ride out the high.

The antidote isn’t designed to be self-administered, but it could be on the off chance that someone realizes he’s in trouble, Clippinger said. More likely, though, the drug user should advise others around him that Narcan is available in case of an emergency. Duddy praised Alameda County and other jails for the new programming.

“It’s a very progressive approach of going after a very high-risk population,” he said.

New Year’s revelations

California police and sheriff ’s departments are bracing for what promises to be an avalanche of public records requests in the new year, as some of the nation’s most secretive police privacy laws are at last lifted.

On Jan. 1, a slice of police personnel records will be provided to the public for the first time as a landmark transparency law, SB1421, goes into effect. The law applies to confirmed findings of officers lying on duty or committing sexual assault, to internal investigations into officer-involved shootings, and any use-of-force incident that results in a serious injury or death. The measure, by state Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, is intended to shed light on a disciplinary system that for decades has remained a mystery to the public.

Police across the state have signaled they’ll have a variety of responses to the new law, from specialized training to deal with the paperwork to legal action and even outright destruction of records.

The Alameda County Sheriff ’s Office trained all supervisors and managers on SB1421 in November and is working on a policy and training bulletin.

Sheriff ’s officials also plan to update their website to include a “transparency” section, leading to videos, records and reports releasable under the law.

“We’re also working with other Alameda County police agencies and chiefs to make sure we are all on the same page and our county law enforcement protocols are similar and consistent,” said Sgt. Ray Kelly, a sheriff ’s spokesman. “That way members of the media and public know where to go and find the information.”

At the other end of the spectrum is Inglewood (Los Angeles County), which decided at a City Council meeting to shred old police records, according to a Los Angeles Times report. The city’s mayor denied that was an attempt to beat the clock before Jan. 1.

Meanwhile, the San Bernardino County sheriff ’s union has filed a lawsuit asking the California Supreme Court to block the law from taking effect and to rule that the release of records that predate Jan. 1 would violate officers’ rights, according to the Palm Springs Desert Sun.

District attorneys offices across the state are reviewing how the law could affect them and officer records they maintain.

“The D.A. supports transparency in law enforcement and that’s why he supported SB1421,” said Alex Bastian, a spokesman for San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón. “We are in the process of acquainting ourselves with our new obligations in order to ensure compliance in the new year.”

Various organizations, including The Chronicle, plan to file public records requests in the new year. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California is requesting all the records now legally unsealed from the more than 400 law enforcement agencies in California, according to its website.

’Shroom water

South Bay prosecutors are suing a mushroom grower for $67 million after the company allegedly dumped toxic wastewater into a creek that runs to San Francisco Bay, officials said Thursday.

Monterey Mushrooms Inc. of Watsonville grows mushrooms in several states. Investigators with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife found that, over six years, the grower’s Morgan Hill facility pumped waste contaminated with hazardous levels of ammonia into Fisher Creek, which flows into Coyote Creek, according to the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office.

Runoff from compost piles on the property made its way into Fisher Creek tributaries, according to the lawsuit.

“Generally, process water goes into a process water holding pond and gets evaporated,” said Denise Raabe, a deputy district attorney. “By getting rid of it, though, dumping it into the creeks, they’re not having to construct another pond.”

Over two days in 2017, the company allegedly pumped nearly 700,000 gallons of wastewater into Fisher Creek. Officials said the ammonia was created by horse stable hay and poultry manure used in the mushroom-growing process.

The company said in a statement that it was “shocked” at the filing and confirmed it had been speaking with the district attorney’s office about the impact of local flooding from heavy storms in late 2016 and early 2017.

“Our Morgan Hill facility was inundated by these record storms and rainwater volume, which resulted in a record release of process water, primarily rainwater, leaving the property,” officials said. “Due to this experience, the company has collaborated with county and state agents and spent millions of dollars to install additional storage, as well as engineer the separation of stormwater.”

A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 25 in Santa Clara County Superior Court.