The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors voted on Thursday, July 24 to allocate more than $250,000 to the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office to improve its ability to detect illegal drugs in the Milwaukee County Jail.
The measure moved funds that had been earmarked to Racine County Jail to cover the costs of sending people there when local jails were at capacity to the sheriff’s office, which will purchase a new scanner and a third drug detection dog.
Supervisor Kathleen Vincent said passing the resolution “shows we’re taking some actionable steps to correct things that are not going well.”
History of overdoses
During Thursday’s meeting, Supervisor Sky Capriolo recounted the jail’s history with drug-related incidents. She said there had been 175 incidents involving contraband and 50 administrations of Narcan, a drug used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, since 2020.
Capriolo said both in-custody deaths this year resulted from overdoses.
NNS reported earlier this week on the number of drug overdoses throughout Milwaukee correctional facilities since 2020, as well as the debate about whether the new drug detection tools were needed.
Supervisor Justin Bielinski, who opposed the resolution during a prior hearing, reversed his stance Thursday.
“It comes down to saving human life,” Bielinski said. “At least we’ll know if it ends up being staff that brings [drugs] in. We just want to get to the bottom of where it is so that no one loses their life.”
Only Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson and Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez voted against the measure, which passed 15-2.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
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