Click here to listen on Spotify When staff shortages and tight funding meet a rise in drug crime, you might not expect an overburdened police department to make extra work for themselves. Yet that is exactly what happened in Chattanooga in the mid 2010s, when calls to EMS started backing
Click here to listen on Spotify As the drug overdose deaths continue to climb, we have heard more and more Sheriffs and law enforcement officers across the state say “we can’t arrest ourselves out of this problem.” That the criminal justice system plays an important role, but not the only
Earlier this year, three different bills were filed that would all increase the penalty for possessing fentanyl to a Class B felony. One would accomplish this by reclassifying fentanyl as an agent of chemical warfare, though this bill was returned to the Clerk’s desk as two complementary pieces of legislation
Read the full article at The Tennessean. Changes to telehealth policy enable mental health and substance abuse treatment programs. This is crucial, as the rate of incarceration is increasing the most in rural areas. About two-thirds of all incarcerated Tennesseans meet the criteria for a diagnosable substance use disorder. This
If there’s one thing Tennesseans can agree on, it’s that the criminal justice system needs some improvements. In the summer of 2021, the Reentry Success Act and Alternatives to Incarceration Act passed; at the same time telehealth permissions expanded. Jeremy talks with Judge Duane Slone and Dr. Stephen Loyd about
The Need for Continuity of Care in the Criminal Justice System Key Points People with mental health disorders are significantly overrepresented in the incarcerated population, and 80% of all crimes in Tennessee have a drug-related nexus. While treatment for mental health and substance use disorders during and after incarceration have
