Thirty-four-year-old Christopher A. Savasta appears today to be a model citizen. He’s got a job at Point Breeze Restaurant in Webster, he’s active in his church, he volunteers in the community several hours a week and he’ll soon be starting classes at Nichols College for a bachelor’s degree in business.

And he’s been sober for 25 months, which is a large factor in his success.

Until a few months ago, he was also an inmate at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction. It wasn’t the former car salesman from Millbury’s first go-around with incarceration.

Sitting in the living room recently at Reconciliation House, a sober recovery home that opened in September 2016 in the former rectory of the Episcopal Church of the Reconciliation in Webster, Mr. Savasta recalled his journey from his first encounter with prescription painkillers after a shoulder injury at age 26, to addiction, crime and incarceration starting at age 27.

He said, “The No. 1 reason why I am where I am today: because of Jesus,” reflects the dedication and support from the Rev. Janice C. Ford and the Church of the Reconciliation congregation, who assist men who are in an intensive recovery program at the jail.

But his recovery also reflects a combination of programs and tools begun inside the correctional facility.

The most recent addition to the jail’s armamentarium, supported by a state Department of Public Health grant awarded a year ago, provides re-entry “navigators,” similar to recovery coaches, to men who choose to work with them shortly before and upon release.

The navigators offer an extra layer of recovery support on top of another recent option, a 28-day-dose injection of Vivitrol (naltrexone), the day before an inmate is released.

Vivitrol is the third most commonly used medication for opioid addiction. The other two, methadone and Suboxone (buprenorphine), are forms of opiates known as agonists, which reduce withdrawal symptoms and cravings for opioids, helping people wean off drugs such as heroin.

Vivitrol, an opiate antagonist, blocks opiate receptors in the brain. As a result, Vivitrol users don’t get the euphoric effects of opioids and they have reduced cravings.

“As soon as I heard that it was a blocker that didn’t get you high, I wanted to try it,” Mr. Savasta said.

He had tried Suboxone in the past and said he had gotten high on it. He also stopped complying with the frequent doses.

“The good thing about Vivitrol is you’re set for 28 days,” he said.

The immediate postincarceration period can be fraught with danger to someone with substance-use disorder.

Mr. Savasta had seen eight former inmates who got clean in jail but then naturally had lost their drug tolerance by the time they were released. “The first time they used, they died,” he said.

At least Vivitrol gives “a 28-day grace period” to get one’s bearings when re-entering society, he said.

“You can’t abuse Vivitrol,” Rev. Ford said. “But you can abuse Suboxone or use while you’re on methadone.”

Suboxone and methadone use isn’t allowed among residents of Reconciliation House.

Dr. Kavita Babu, director of the Division of Medical Toxicology and an emergency medicine physician at UMass Memorial Medical Center as well as UMass Memorial Health Care’s first chief opioid officer, said there was a long history of using Vivitrol with alcohol but not so much with opioids.

“Each one of these medications may play a role at some point in a person’s addiction,” she said.

The data show the lowest mortality with methadone, with Suboxone next, Dr. Babu said. Vivitrol just hasn’t been studied as much.

Vivitrol also has its challenges, including a patient having to be abstinent for seven to 10 days before an injection; fewer available providers; and the need to stick to a monthly regimen, according to Dr. Babu.

“But it’s an important tool in our toolbox,” she said, “especially for those who don’t want opioid agonists.”

For Mr. Savasta, Vivitrol has been one of his re-entry supports, along with gaining job experience on work release, to participating while wearing an ankle bracelet in the Community Opportunity Advancement Program to meeting regularly with his case manager, Jennifer Genduso, from the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office Regional Resource Center in Webster.

“Between her and Pastor Janice,” Mr. Savasta said about Ms. Genduso, “she would guide me in getting balanced every day,” including getting to drug screenings and doctor’s appointments.

David Tuttle, Worcester County Sheriff’s Office superintendent, said 85 to 90 percent of the 6,000 men who enter the jail each year have alcohol or drug problems. Close to half of the incoming inmates have to be detoxed on any given night.

Roughly 400 men have opted for Vivitrol upon release in the three years that it’s been offered. Of those, 160 had the opportunity to combine Vivitrol with re-entry navigators through the recent grant, and 81 have done so.

“This has really been the support they need to succeed,” Mr. Tuttle said.

Before inmates get to the stage of working with a navigator and considering Vivitrol, they must put in a lengthy commitment to recovery in the jail.

The core recovery program for 13 years has been the Substance Treatment Opportunity Program, known as STOP. STOP is a voluntary, medium-security residential treatment program housed in a segregated unit inside the corrections facility. The unit holds up to 36 men.

“STOP is the crown jewel of our system,” said Sheriff Lewis G. Evangelidis.

He said inmates have to earn their way into the program, and it’s a six- to nine-month commitment.

“They’ve bottomed out and want to change their lives,” Mr. Evangelidis said. “We’re trying to help those people that want to help themselves.”

Over the past 13 years, 810 men have successfully completed STOP, according to Dawn P. Drummey, director of substance abuse.

The program uses a cognitive behavioral therapy model and includes counseling as well as classes on parenting, anger management, healthy relationships and communication, and victim impact.

Inmates can prepare for and take their GED, and take Mount Wachusett Community College courses, including injection-molding plastics training on site.

Substance-abuse counselor Lesa Vaudreuil said staff encourage everyone who leaves the program to have counseling for re-entry.

“If you walk out of here without a plan, plan on coming back,” quipped Walter Rafferty, another substance-abuse counselor.

STOP inmate Hector Compres, 48, said, for once he has a plan as he looked forward to release this week. He had been in the jail almost a year, following three or four previous incarcerations.

“I had a habit of making bad decisions. I needed a change,” he said. “I’m getting older, I’m getting tired of getting locked up for the same thing.”

Mr. Compres said he had been jailed for domestic crimes he committed when he was drunk.

He started drinking at 13.

While in STOP, he got his GED and ServSafe food-handling certificate. He had taken the plastics class and was preparing to take the certifying exam.

“Before, I only knew partying,” Mr. Compres said. “Now it’s scary because I’ve never experienced it.”

But Mr. Compres, who will move into Channing House, a halfway house that focuses on rehabilitation of people with substance-abuse and mental-health issues, said he knows now he can take healthy action, such as going for a walk or to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

Mr. Compres opted not to use Vivitrol to support his recovery.

“I’m trying to be healthy,” he said. “I don’t like putting something in my body. I’ve been doing it for so long.”

Inmates who successfully completed the STOP program had a lower rate of reoffending, in the year following release, compared to inmates overall, according to data provided by the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office.

Among 1,146 sentenced inmates in 2017 whose criminal records were reviewed, 49 percent were arraigned for a new offense; 28 percent were convicted of a new criminal offense; and 18 percent were incarcerated for a new criminal offense.

Among 27 inmates who successfully completed the STOP program, recidivism rates were lower and none of the new charges were for alcohol or drugs. In this group, 30 percent, or eight inmates, were arraigned for a new offense; 23 percent were convicted; and 15 percent were incarcerated.

The STOP program’s success has led to its replication in another part of the jail, a section known as the privileged housing unit.

Inmates in privileged housing have to earn their right to be there through good behavior. The cells are private, each with its own TV.

Nicknamed Short STOP, the new 90-day program provides four hours a day of recovery work, plus one-on-one counseling, in the unit’s two dayrooms.

Twenty-five inmates in the unit are in Short STOP, and 35 more are on the waiting list, according to jail officials.

Joshua, 30, whose last name isn’t being used, has spent 15 months in jail, with one year in the privileged housing unit.

He had been incarcerated for driving under the influence and other drug-related charges. He said he started using drugs at age 19, mainly cocaine and pills.

“I was looking for sobriety. It worked out well,” Joshua said about Short STOP. “It also included anger management, like a double whammy. I have two children, so this really bit me in the butt.”

Don Siergie, director of inmate services, oversees all the re-entry processes as inmates move toward release, starting 90 days out.

Now just over half of the inmates have started working with a recovery navigator from Spectrum Health Systems before release, “And we think that’s outstanding,” Mr. Siergie said.

Vivitrol is not required, but those who choose it must have a toxicology screen two days before release. If it’s clean, they get their dose a day before heading out the door.

“It’s not a magic bullet,” Mr. Siergie said. But “when teamed with counseling, it’s been shown to be very effective.”