The Maine Department of Corrections is going to allow a prisoner to receive medication in prison to treat his opioid addiction in the wake of a lawsuit on his behalf.
Thirty-year-old Zachary Smith sued the corrections department in July through the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU argued that Smith was being denied his rights to medication in prison.
The Portland Press Herald reports the parties filed a settlement in court on Friday.
Smith uses Suboxone to help recover from opioid use disorder. He's scheduled to report to prison soon for a nine-month sentence for a domestic assault against his father. The term will be served at either the Aroostook County Jail or Maine Correctional Center in Windham.
The ACLU says the settlement will spare Smith unnecessarily painful withdrawal.