FAIRBANKS — A tribal nonprofit organization has been awarded a $49,000 grant to support efforts by the city of Fairbanks to open a sober center for severely intoxicated people that officials say is much needed.
The Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority announced the grant Monday for the Tanana Chiefs Conference at a meeting of health care providers and local leaders. The money will be used to conduct a review of the area’s substance abuse services, a first step toward opening a sober center, The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported.
The study is required for Fairbanks and other groups to apply for $11 million the Legislature approved to improve substance abuse treatment over the next three years. The money has not yet received Gov. Bill Walker’s final stamp of approval.
Fairbanks is the largest city in Alaska without a sobering center where inebriated residents can sober up without using more expensive services such as hospitals or jails.
“That has a lot of problems,” Fairbanks Mayor John Eberhart said at Monday’s meeting. “There have been some deaths in custody. It’s not the best way to treat the problem.”
One of the deaths reviewed by the state last year was that of Gilbert Joseph, who was admitted to a Fairbanks corrections center in August on a protective custody hold for alcohol intoxication.
An initial timeline of events provided by facility staff indicated no suspicious or aggressive behavior toward Joseph. A death investigation report by the Alaska State Troopers indicated the same, but videos revealed there had been assaults on Joseph by a cellmate, the report states.
