Wellpath, the private health contractor providing healthcare treatment at Santa Barbara County’s jails at annual cost of $26 million, reported a dramatic increase — 68 percent — in the number of inmates enrolled in Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT) for addiction issues in both county jails in the past year. MAT refers to treatments in which pharmaceuticals are used to help with recovery
In 2024, Wellpath told the Board of Supervisors that the enrollment number was 726. In 2025, that number jumped to 1,216. This shift occurred after the supervisors amended the company’s contract a few years ago to pay $3.2 million for 21 additional staff at the jail. At that point, Wellpath had been in a state of perpetual noncompliance in meeting its contracted staffing levels.
In 2025, the jail reported four drug overdoses. The year before that, the number was 12, and the year before that, it was 21.
Supervisor Laura Capps asked whether it was possible to track the recovery — or lack thereof — of inmates with addiction issues after they’d been released from the county jail. County healthcare administrators were currently working on such a system, she was told, and a new funding mechanism to help cover some of the costs of such tracking will go online in October.
Wellpath also detailed the extent to which they’d increased mental health screening and treatment among the inmate population, 11 percent of whom are reportedly dealing with serious mental health issues. In addition, the company highlighted improvements made to ensure continuity of treatment for inmates upon their release. All are provided with a 30-day supply of whatever prescription drugs they were taking in the jail and an appointment scheduled with a healthcare provider
In 2025, Wellpath professionals responded to 12,000 nursing or sick calls for service, treated 3,000 patients with chronic health conditions, responded to 91 emergency calls and two in-jail deaths, and dispensed 709,000 prescriptions for 35,000 different medications. That’s up from 673,588 prescriptions filled the year before. This increase is attributed to the jump in participation in MAT for addiction issues.
Capps, who has been critical of oversight problems with health care in the county jail, took pains to express appreciation for the enormity and complexity inherent in providing care to such a transient population under terms of involuntary confinement. But she also explored the bones of contention that have led the supervisors to assign two county healthcare professionals to bird-dog medical treatment in the county jails. Two years ago, in fact, the supervisors created and funded two new County Health Department positions charged with bird-dogging contract compliance and administration of care in the county jail, at an annual cost of $581,000.
While staffing levels are much improved, last year Wellpath was forced to forfeit $1.8 million because of shifts not staffed at levels obligated by the contract. This year, Wellpath reported a 6.7 vacancy rate vacancy rate.
Supervisors Bob Neslon and Capps expressed curiosity whether Wellpath’s existing vacancy rates might have had clinical repercussions and to what extent staffing shortages contributed to the number or type of inmate grievances. These grievances have been collected and tabulated since 2015. In the past year, the number of medically related grievances dipped from 1,564 in 2024 to 1,443 in 2025. This happened the same time the jails’ average daily population had increased from 746 to 776.
Even with this drop, Wellpath’s own report indicated that the most recent number of grievances still exceeded those collected during the most recent five-year average. Of these, Wellpath reported, only 8 percent were deemed to be substantiated.
Supervisor Capps expressed concern that the county had farmed out the collection and review of such grievances to a private contractor. She was told by county administrator Tanja Heitman that the grievance reporting and assessment would be transferred back.
This report was the supervisors will be given another report, but this one written by the two county Health Department professionals assigned to the jail. Capps, Nelson, and Heitman all agreed that it made more sense for the supervisors to review all such reports at the same time.
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