Inmates in the Livingston County Jail now have the opportunity to receive Vivitrol, a monthly injectable opioid treatment, for free thanks to a partnership with Livingston County Community Mental Health (CMH) and Alkermes, the drug company that produces Vivitrol.

Livingston County Sheriff Michael Murphy said there are currently 18 inmates involved with the new treatment with several others potentially joining the program.

He estimates nearly 1 in 3 inmates has an opioid addiction. However as many as 90% of inmates have some sort of substance abuse issue.

The shots, which normally cost about $1,000 each, are free to those in the program.

Unlike other addiction medication such as Antabuse, Murphy said Vivitrol does not make the individual sick if they take the drug, but instead blocks the receptors in the brain.

"You can do heroin and there will be no effect," Murphy said.

He said the number of doses an individual receives depends on their unique treatment plan he said, but the county tries to start the treatment roughly 30 days before the inmate is released from jail to monitor any reactions.

According to Murphy the response from both his officers and the inmates has been positive so far.

"At the end of the day if it's keeping people alive," he said, "then it's a win."

Connie Conklin, executive director of Community Mental Health, said the organization is dedicated to providing care to the inmates not just while they are at the jail but after they leave as well.

"We didn't want to just have it in the jail and nothing when they go back into the community," Conklin said.

She said the program is voluntary but another resource inmates use.

Contact Kayla Daugherty at 517-552-2848 or kdaugherty@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KayDaugherty92.