OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) - The Kansas and Missouri affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union say they have reached a settlement with the Federal Bureau of Prisons which allows an inmate to receive a drug used to treat his opioid addiction.
The ACLU said in a news release Wednesday that the settlement allows the federal prison in Leavenworth to give inmate Leaman Crews a drug used to keep life-threatening withdrawal symptoms at bay.
A federal lawsuit filed on his behalf last week sought to compel prison officials to treat his addiction with buprenorphine.
Kansas ACLU Executive Director Nadine Johnson says Crews was their primary concern, but the narrow agreement focusing only on him isn’t sufficient. She says they look forward to seeing a prison policy that respects what doctors are recommending in these cases.
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