County of Los Angeles – Department of Health Services

Integrated Correctional Health Services-Addiction Medicine Services

Substance Treatment and Re-Entry Transition (START)

The Department of Health Services – Integrated Correctional Health Services (ICHS) is one of the world’s largest county-run correctional health systems and provides the continuum of care for in-custody adults ranging from chronic disease management, psychiatric, behavioral health, and addiction medicine services.

Integrated Correctional Health Services – Addiction Medicine Services (AMS) provides a wide range of in-custody substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services for all adult patients who are housed in the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s (LASD) jail system. AMS provides a robust substance use disorder continuum of care that is evidence based and patient centered.  Services also support individuals with community re-entry services by fostering linkages to SUD treatment post-release through our AMS- Substance Treatment and Re-Entry Transition (START) program.

The START program provides direct in-custody SUD counseling, group therapy and case management. START services are evidenced-based and culturally appropriate utilizing cognitive behavioral therapies as well as motivational interviewing approaches to treat addiction. Patients who successfully complete the program are celebrated with a graduation ceremony. Once released from custody, program participants are offered transportation within the eight Service Planning Areas (SPA) to SUD treatment services, patient engagement navigation services, housing, and social service sites as needed. These additional resources provide post-release care needed for patients struggling with SUD, as well as provide appropriate reentry planning and transportation into the community to begin to break the cycle of addiction and incarceration.

The projected goal of START is to expand and increase the number of patients enrolled in the program, remove barriers to accessing treatment, and reduce drug use and recidivism upon release from custody.

Men’s Central Jail and Twin Tower Correctional Facility works with Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse (L.A. CADA) to provide a breadth of SUD treatment services including individual, group, and reentry services. L.A. CADA is a licensed and certified substance use and behavioral treatment provider by the State of California. General inquiries can be sent to:  administration@lacada.com