METH-ADDICTED PRISONERS REQUIRE MORE MEDICAL CARE

HAVANA - High on crystal methamphetamine, a prisoner slammed his head
against a cell window in the Mason County Jail and cut himself on the
head.

The jail staff took the prisoner to the hospital for stitches. Such
trips are growing more common as the popularity of methamphetamine
gives rise to more volatile, and violent, prisoners, Mason County
Sheriff Wayne Youell said.

"We've put bars across the window of the holding cell," Youell said.
Though the glass is at least an inch thick, prisoners high on meth
"break it with nothing more than their hands and their heads."

In Mason and other rural counties, jails are seeing soaring medical
and dental bills as they house a growing number of prisoners who are
addicted to methamphetamine. The highly addictive drug is made from
cooking inexpensive ingredients, such as anhydrous ammonia fertilizer
and pseudoephedrine, found in over-the-counter cold medicines. Much of
the drug is produced in rural counties in central and southern Illinois.

And because of better enforcement efforts, prisoners arrested for
meth-related crimes are swelling jail populations. Along with higher
medical bills, counties are spending more on food and supplies.

"All of a sudden in the last year and a half, we've seen a lot more
violence as the inmates have been coming in here, and seen a lot more
damage," Youell said.

Particularly expensive are dental bills. The caustic chemicals in meth
can destroy teeth.

Greg Sullivan, executive director of the Illinois Sheriffs
Association, says meth-addicted prisoners "all want their teeth fixed
when they come in. The sheriff is required to provide that."

Once in jail, addicts are "coming down off their high, and all of a
sudden their teeth hurt."

Christian County Chief Deputy Sheriff David Mahan estimates that 80
percent of meth-addicted prisoners require a trip to the doctor or
dentist. A tooth extraction can cost more than $100, he said.

Meth "just rots their teeth out," Mahan said.

State law requires jail wardens to provide medical care to prisoners.
Counties are entitled to seek reimbursement from the prisoners, but
most meth addicts lack health insurance or cash for their medical
bills, making recovery of the costs difficult, sheriffs say.

For a prisoner receiving public aid, state law requires the state
Department of Public Aid to reimburse medical bills exceeding $2,500.

The Morgan County Jail in Jacksonville insists that prisoners pay
their own dental bills. But the jail sees a small number of meth users
in jail, Morgan County Sheriff Jim Robson said.

"We've only got one person who is in here right now who was a strong
meth user who is claiming that his teeth are rotting due to the use of
meth," Robson said.

Robson added that the prisoner appeared to have the ability to pay for
his own dental care.

Meth-addicted prisoners are burdens in other ways. The drug can cause
paranoia, mood swings, anxiety and violent outbursts. Some counties
have changed jail policies or reconfigured their jails to handle more
volatile prisoners.

In Christian County, after one inmate attacked another inmate, the
jail staff no longer transports more than one prisoner at a time, Mahan said.

"We take more precautions with these people."

Back in Mason County, where a prisoner injured his arm banging on a
metal bed frame, the county replaced metal bed frames with mattresses
on the floor.

From county jails, many prisoners charged with meth-related crimes are
transferred to state prisons, where they can be treated for their addictions.

But county sheriffs see no end in sight to the growing numbers of
meth-addicted prisoners.

The drug is inexpensive, easy to make and highly addictive.

"You have to have a deterrent," said Mahan, of Christian County, "and
I don't know what the deterrent is."