U.S. Department
of Justice
Strickland v. Delaware County
On December 11, 2023, the Department of Justice filed a statement of interest in Strickland v. Delaware County, a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in which the plaintiff alleged that the George W. Hill Correctional Facility in Delaware County unlawfully denied him access to methadone that he was taking to treat OUD under the supervision of a qualified medical provider before his incarceration. The plaintiff further alleged that the jail had a blanket policy of only providing access to methadone for pregnant individuals and that all other individuals on methadone when entering the jail were put through medically supervised withdrawal. The department's statement of interest explains that Title II of the ADA prohibits jails from categorically restricting access to Food and Drug Administration-approved OUD medications, like methadone, without individually assessing whether the person being denied access needs that medication to effectively treat their disability.