Megan Dunn (right), hugs Stacey Fuller, her former peer adviser. Dunn has been arrested on charges related to illicit drug use. While in Walker County’s jail, she says, she was once placed in a holding cell known as the “drunk tank,” a concrete room that lacks water, a bed, or a toilet. (Renuka Rayasam / KFF Health News)
By Renuka Rayasam, California Healthline, July 19, 2023
Megan Dunn, who has struggled with addiction since her teens, points to the moment her life went “deeply downhill.”
After dropping out of high school, she gave birth at age 19 to a son she named Preston. Six weeks later, Dunn said, he died of sudden infant death syndrome.
“From then on, I went into this, like, PTSD, depression,” said Dunn, now 28.
Shortly after the baby’s death, Dunn said, she started using pain pills again. Eventually, she said, she was arrested on charges related to her illicit drug use, such as trespassing. She said she has had more than 30 stays in Walker County’s jail, a brick building in downtown Jasper. And each time, Dunn said, she was forced into drug withdrawal in her cell without medical care.
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