Cleavotta Morgan said her son, Daejon Morgan, called her every day from his cell at Men’s Central Jail.
The 20-year-old inmate would ask her to pass the phone around to different members of the family. She’d often put the receiver up to his dog Hunter’s ear so he could hear the animal’s excitement at the sound of his voice. The family thought of his incarceration as a “blessing,” she said.
“We thought it would be a safe place for him,” Cleavotta Morgan said of her son and the L.A. County jail system.
But during a call Oct. 30, 2024, Morgan heard screams. Then an unfamiliar voice came on the line.
“[Daejon] went down,” the man said. “I’m sorry I gotta put the phone down and get help.”
Morgan died in his cell from an overdose caused by fentanyl and heroin, according to an autopsy.
He was one of hundreds of inmates on a wait list to receive medication-assisted treatment for drug addiction, according to two L.A. County Correctional Health Services staff members with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to speak publicly.
Medication-assisted therapy uses drugs such as buprenorphine or Suboxone to quell addiction cravings and reduce withdrawal symptoms. L.A. County allotted $25 million this fiscal year to fund the treatment program in local jails.
But despite a push to expand the use of medication-assisted treatment, people in county custody often wait weeks — sometimes several months — to receive it, according to interviews with Correctional Health Services staff and current jail detainees.
L.A. County inmates were roughly three times more likely to die in county custody in 2025 than they were in 2016, according to a Times analysis of Sheriff’s Department data. Overdoses accounted for about a quarter of the 46 in-custody deaths in 2025. Already this year, 21 jail inmates have died, though autopsy results are still pending to determine the causes.
In the case of Daejon Morgan, immediate access to medication-assisted treatment program could have saved his life, said one of the health services staffers, who requested anonymity because they feared professional repercussions.
Morgan’s death is the subject of an ongoing federal lawsuit brought by his family against L.A. County, alleging that jail staff exhibited a “deliberate indifference” to Morgan’s serious medical needs after he was hospitalized for a separate overdose weeks before his death. The family also claims the County failed to stop dangerous drugs from circulating inside the jail system.
In court filings, the county has denied liability in Morgan’s death and disputed most of the family’s claims.
A 2024 report by L.A. County’s Office of Inspector General that reviewed jail conditions in the months preceding Morgan’s death, a health services staff member reported that the department had exceeded its addiction treatment budget for the fiscal quarter by nearly $300,000, leaving 200-300 inmates waiting to receive support .
Robin Young, a spokesperson for L.A. County’s Public Health Department, told The Times there is currently no wait list for jail inmates to receive addiction treatment, noting longer waits in the past were caused by budget strains limiting the supply of medication and staffing.
One inmate, who recently served three weeks for petty theft, said they entered the Inmate Reception Center while already enrolled in a nonprofit medication assisted treatment program before their arrest but never received buprenorphine while in county custody. Another told The Times she was arrested while high on fentanyl and had to detox without medication while chained to a metal bar for hours. Both requested anonymity because they were concerned about retaliation for speaking out about the issue.
The Sheriff’s Department, which manages L.A. jails, said it has has taken “aggressive action” to prevent drug trafficking and overdoses in its facilities, implementing stricter security screenings and a new dorm where inmates who have experienced an overdose can opt for voluntary drug treatment.
In some cases, inmates will wait weeks or months for a medical form needed to request substance use treatment, and longer still if there is an active drug treatment wait list, according to audits by the Sybil Brand Commission, a civilian jail watchdog.
In December 2025, the wait list for medication-assisted treatment grew to some 835 inmates before a fresh wave of funding for medicine brought the queue back down to zero, according to Robb Layne, executive director of the California Association of Alcohol and Drug Program Executives, who said the list is likely to spike again unless the program gets more funding.
“If it’s not zero, it’s too many people,” Layne said. “If this was somebody with diabetes, or a heart condition, we wouldn’t be talking about a wait list.”
Layne’s group has pushed county leaders to fund a continuous drug addiction treatment program, expanding access for those who need it both during and after incarceration.
Supervisor Janice Hahn has taken up the issue, backing a March motion directing county departments to report back on jail deaths and overdose prevention. Correctional Health Services has requested additional funds for medication-assisted treatment this budget cycle, subject to approval from the Board of Supervisors.
After joining litigation against pharmaceutical companies blamed for causing the U.S. opioid epidemic, L.A. County received an $8 million settlement this past fiscal year that was initially earmarked for the jail’s addiction treatment program. But instead it was spent on unrelated jail costs, according to a statement from Correctional Health Services.
The county has expanded the number of monthly buprenorphine injections and daily Suboxone strips dispensed to patients in custody in recent years, but routine budget restrictions continue to precipitate delays in treatment, according to Correctional Health Services.
Most recently, in April, a funding shortfall strained the supply of medicine, according to the two correctional health staff members who requested anonymity.
Delayed access to medication-assisted treatment happens frequently, one staff member said, adding that many of their colleagues are afraid of losing their medical licenses for malpractice.
“It’s my job to keep people from overdosing, but there are times when we are not treating people because of our budget,” the staff member said. “We’re basically saying ‘We’re sorry, we don’t have the funds to treat you right now,’ and then people die of overdoses.”
Correctional Health Services has acknowledged that the drug treatment budget is strained.
“What is needed are stronger actions to prevent the introduction of fentanyl and methamphetamines into the [jails],” according a recent health services audit report.
In a lawsuit filed last year, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta accused the Sheriff’s Department of failing to screen jail staff for contraband and offering inadequate training to prevent overdose deaths. The same lawsuit, which remains pending, said the county “limits access” to medication-assisted treatment, leading inmates to experience “relapse and avoidable withdrawal symptoms.”
Dr. Terrence Keel, a UCLA professor whose lab has studied deaths in custody through autopsy reports and public records, said the lack of an adequate drug treatment program is unconstitutional.
“It’s a form of cruel and unusual punishment,” he said.
Research has shown the risk of fatal overdose is high for jail inmates who are released without access to medication-assisted treatment.
Dr. Michael Hochman, CEO of Healthcare in Action — a local street medicine nonprofit — said he has seen the effect firsthand.
“I have patients tell me all the time how painful it was to [detox] with no support for days and weeks while they’re incarcerated,” he said. “They’re absolutely dying in there, untreated, and they just sit there with all the pain of withdrawal until they get discharged without meds, and then of course go back to using.”
Former Times staff writer Keri Blakinger contributed to this report.
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