Amid fentanyl crisis, Oregon lawmakers propose more funding for opioid addiction medication in jails
Kendra Sawyer spoke with her dad from the Deschutes County jail and told him she loved him. Six hours later, in the throes of opioid withdrawal, the 22-year-old took her own life.
A year later, Sawyer’s father, Kent, is left wondering whether his daughter, troubled as she was, might still be alive if the jail hadn't failed to provide her with medicine to ease the agony of her withdrawal, as he claimed in a recently filed lawsuit.
“Kendra was screaming in pain and crying for hours and hours, and nobody was doing anything," Sawyer said. “No one truly deserves to die in a painful way.”
jails could soon see a rise in the
