HOULTON, Maine (AP) A Maine woman’s jail sentence has been delayed after a judge ordered the jail to provide medication-assisted treatment to keep her opioid addiction in remission.
The judge granted a preliminary injunction last week requiring the Aroostook County Jail to provide physician-prescribed buprenorphine to Brenda Smith.
Smith, who’s from Madawaska, was due to report to jail on Monday in Houlton, but her reporting date was delayed for a month.
Peter Marchesi, an attorney for Aroostook County Jail, confirmed that the 40-day sentence for theft was delayed but he didn’t say why. He said last week that the jail plans to pursue “all available legal opportunities” to seek redress.
The ruling comes at a time when jails and prisons across the country are starting to provide addiction medications to inmates.
