Intake welcoming committee

At your prison intake center you are given a brief health review. These intake centers are overburdened and don’t have time for chit chat. Have your facts ready. In my experience, a Physicians Assistant did my “intake physical”. She ran down a list of standard questions, becoming irritated if my answers strayed from yes or no. She was also kind of irritated at the length of my list of secondary illnesses. When we got to meds she asked, “What is Issentress?” I knew at that point that “community standard of care” didn’t exist in state prison. I then explained to her what class of drug Issentress is and why it is a valuable part of my regimen. My heart sank leaving that room knowing I was in for a battle to receive proper health care while incarcerated.
From the intake center I am sent to my designated prison facility. Word spread quickly that a new “white” has hit the yard and the appropriate welcoming committee greets me. They always ask the usual: where are you coming from, what you are in for, have you done time before, etc. They filled me in on general information and showed me around the yard. During my tour of the bathrooms, it was explained to me the bathroom rules: “These toilets are for pissing, the rest for shitting, all races…except the last two, those are for the AIDS people. These showers are for everyone and those over there are for the sick fuckers. There’s a lot of them here.”