Gripped by opioid withdrawal, Benjamin Santiago was violently ill when he stepped into San Mateo County’s Maguire Correctional Facility last fall.
At 44, he had been using illicit opioids for more than two decades, bouncing in and out of juvenile halls and then county jails across the Bay Area for selling drugs — including to his own parents — to pay for his addiction.
On that cool November day, the jail staff interrupted that downward cycle, offering Santiago a medication that would blunt his opioid cravings and drastically improve his chances of staying sober, staying alive. For the past two months, doses of buprenorphine have taken the teeth out of Santiago’s intense cravings. He’s started to envision a new course for his life when he’s eventually released.
“This is the first time I’ve ever thought about being sober when I get out,” he said.
Benjamin Santiago, 44, talks during an interview at Maguire Correctional Facility in Redwood City, Calif., on Jan. 27, 2025. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
