Buncombe jail turns to Wellpath to boost care amid overcrowding

The Buncombe County Detention Facility’s new contract with Wellpath took effect July 1, and the first 90 days will show whether the jail can keep enough health workers in place, maintain medications and respond faster when detainees are in crisis. The two-year deal, worth $4.2 million and running through June 30, 2028, replaced the facility’s previous medical provider.

That change lands at a tense moment for the jail in Asheville, where overcrowding has strained daily operations for months. The sheriff’s office says the facility has a housing capacity of 524 inmates and about 160 staff members, but the population reached 543 on May 31, above the 470-inmate maximum safe operating level staff have cited. Local coverage also reported a daily count of 527 on Jan. 11, when the sheriff’s office was seeking temporary space for about 50 male inmates as it asked other counties for help.

Sheriff Quentin Miller has said 234 people at the jail had been labeled as having mental health issues, and county leaders have described overcrowding and mental health needs as the detention center’s biggest challenges. Under the new agreement, Buncombe County said Wellpath is contracted to provide 26.8 full-time equivalent health care positions, with officials emphasizing that the provider is expected to keep those posts filled.

The contract also expands the medical side of the jail’s daily operation. Wellpath is supposed to add more mental health care, telehealth services, continued medication-assisted treatment for substance use disorders and more comprehensive screening for every newly admitted detainee. County officials have said the goal is to improve care inside the jail and cut back on outside medical transports, which are costly and pull deputies and nurses away from the facility.

That promise will be measured against a system that already has some behavioral health supports in place. Buncombe County’s Jail Diversion and Re-Entry Program works with people who have serious mental illness and substance use disorders at the detention facility, offering case management, treatment planning and evidence-based group programming intended to prevent unnecessary incarceration and connect people to services after release. The county also said it contracts with RHA Services for three on-site mental health and substance-abuse case managers.

One unresolved issue is accreditation. In an RFP addendum, Buncombe County said the detention center was not currently accredited by the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. If Wellpath fills the open posts, keeps medications moving and shortens waits for evaluation and treatment, the contract could ease one of the county’s most persistent detention problems. If not, overcrowding, staffing shortages and medical delays will remain part of the daily cost of running the jail.