Comment Responses

The author sent some responses to comments on this blog.

Comment by Anonymous on post, "Make Up":
Q: What percent of your block do you think is HIV+?"
A: Each state has prisons scattered throughout. State prisons have contracts with one or more major hospitals to house inmates for hospital stays. Inmates with chronic medical needs will be housed only in the prisons closest to contract hospitals. Usually its the prisons closest to big cities. Inmates know they are on a highly medical yard because the med and pill call lines are ten times longer. There are a lot of people with canes, limited duty waivers and special medical diets. If you do nat have a visible impairment and are not an insulin diabetic, questions may be asked. Nobody can say who has HIV or how many have AIDS as there are a lot of people here who are not sick. Some are removed from other yards and placed here for "Protective Custody" reasons. I am friends with the medical porter and he estimates from what he sees and overhears that 25% of the 1100 on this block have HIV or Hepatitis C. That obviously doesn't count those who haven't tested. There in no mandatory testing, nor is there a push for voluntary testing.

Comment by Ashley Anderson on post, "Comments and Questions Welcome":
Q. What are the comparisons between the health care he [the author] was receiving prior to incarceration?
A. If you google "prison health care" you'll quickly see the lack of it nationwide. Incarceration is a business. Employers resist paying half your health insurance coverage on the outside, so prisons dont want to pay all medical expenses. Prisons resist, avoid and procrastinate diagnosing anything. If the diagnose it they have to make an effort to treat it. They do have the bare minimum to avoid lawsuits. On the streets I had a PCP plus dermatologist for skin cancer, neurologist for neuropathy, urologist, etc. Here in prison, there's nurses who answer "health needs requests" and after enough requests and complaining, you finally get to get to an all purpose doctor who finds a way to shoot down all requests. HIV care is all about preventing opportunistic infections and secondary illnesses on the outside. In prison its bedrest, warehousing and "drink lots of water." Pain medications are not allowed and if you dont come to prison with a current drug regimin, you will be prescribed an older, less expensive onc. I am the only person here on Issentress. Doctor has never heard of it. Its all about the dollar, especially now.