ROCKLAND – Ira Mandel, founder and director of the Rockland-based Midcoast Recovery Coalition, has asked Knox County Commissioners to discuss future partnerships at  the Knox County Jail.

The coalition formed a year ago to address the opioid epidemic in Knox County. It has several programs, one of which is in partnership with the Knox County Jail. The jail falls under the administration of the Knox County Commissioners.

Mandel pointed out it was not a written contract with the jail, but more of a handshake agreement.

Mandel said that 90 percent of inmates at the jail are either directly or indirectly incarcerated due to drug addiction problems. Mandel said inmates receive no treatment for their addiction while incarcerated.

In addition, upon release, inmates receive no help in finding a place to live or finding a job.

"They don't even get a ride home," he said. "The Knox County Sheriff’s Office is interested in our coalition's assistance. We wanted to develop a program where we come in and assess the needs of an inmate to see what services we can provide in-house and also to assist them upon their release."

Mandel said the inmate would be able to reenter the community in a healthy way. Ending up back in jail is all to common he said.

"Our staff in Knox County is what we call recovery coaches," he said. "I treat people with addiction, I'm trained as a recovery coach and I'm trained as a recovery coach trainer. I just trained 10 coaches in the last few weeks."

Mandel cited Lincoln County Commissioners’ allotment of $85,000 for two recovery coaches at the Two Bridges Jail, in Wiscasset.

"I'm not here today to ask for money," he said. "I'm here today to ask to begin a dialog with you to see if we can work together to meet the needs of the citizens of Knox County. The epidemic is ruining the community."

Knox County Sheriff Donna Dennison said the jail could use all the help it could get. She said it was a huge problem not only in Knox County, but all over.

"I don't know what the answer is," she said. "I know people get out of jail and the only way they can get help is if they have money. There's no safe housing for them, there's no counseling, they can't pay for it because they have no money and that's sad."

Dennison said they get someone dried out in jail and they want to go straight because the drugs are out of their system.

"They get out and they are right back with the same people they were before," she said. "Then they're back using again and it's just a revolving door, so we can use all the help we can get."

Dennison said not all the inmates who enter jail are charged with drug-related crimes, but when they talk to them, they admit they are stealing and committing crimes because of a drug problem.

Commissioners asked where the Coalition’s current funding came from.

"About half comes from donations," said Mandel. "The other half comes from grants. The Rockland City Council gave us $5,000. "It didn't seem like anyone else was stepping up to take this role, so I stepped up. It's not our goal to do as little as possible, but to find the people whose job it is already and work with them in partnership.”

Commissioners closed the public comment by saying they would keep in touch.