Death Stories

While in the hospital, two officers sat in my room with me the entire time, even though I was chained to the bed.  On one evening, a couple officers stopped by to have a chit chat with the ones in my room. My officer detail was fully aware of my terminal issues, as they were there the entire time, even when I had discussions with doctors and nurses. The idle chit chat eventually turned to their stories of hospital visits by inmates that resulted in death.  I don’t know it was that they are used to ignoring inmates in the bed, or if they just didn’t care, but they began a morbid competition of telling death stories about inmates: ones that died in their cells or died in a yard awaiting medical attention or in and ambulance that took too long to arrive.  They weren’t shy about stating that the deaths were frequently due to lack of quick medical response. They showed an aggressive indifference. Their stories and attitude brought me to tears in my hospital bed. My tears were as invisible to them as I was.

ER visit

  After being in prison only a week I got pneumonia, possibly from all the missed days of meds from county jail onward. When health issues can’t be handled in the prison health unit you are then taken to a hospital.  I was taken in shackles to a regular hospital with several inmates that also needed to go that day. This particular hospital had a prison entrance, but regular hospital nurses saw us. On the day I went to the ER, the four of us inmates were sat down on chairs next to each other and triaged openly in front of every body. That meant a review of medical history, chronic issues, medications and current issues. I quickly recognized what was happening, so I reached over with my finger and pointed to “HIV/AIDS” and said, “I have had chronic issues for 20 years” and again made eye contact. She got the hint and never said the words. You have to make your confidentiality requirements known.  Be smart and quick on your feet. Never assume they will protect your privacy.

Get it in writing and get there first

After not getting a pass or called for pill call for a couple days, I went to pill call on my own. I waited in line and when I got to the window I asked in front of everybody in line, “I’ve been here 2 days, do you have meds for me?” She responded, “What pills do you take?” I wasn’t going to call out my meds in front of everybody so I said, “I don’t have the names with me, i’ll come back.” I then sent a note requested that my meds be ready so I don’t need to name them publicly. The response came back, “I did not ask you to name your meds”. I knew then that prisons are very wary about what they put in writing. That made me cognizant of the fact that I need to get as much in writing and documented as possible.

In some living situations you have privacy like one man cells or a lockable foot locker. I was in one of these situations at one point so I decided to get KOP meds, that way I didn’t have to wait in the long pill call lines twice a day. One day we had a “shakedown”. This is where officers search living areas for weapons, drugs, stolen personal property, etc. During these searches your “house” is turned upside down. Your persona electronics (TV, radio, electric razor, etc.) are all yours and listen in your property file AND a nurse is there to verify that meds found are current and in your file. To make it easier for the nurses, the searching officers put all of the meds in plain view so they can easily go from bed to bed more quickly.

Inmates are not in the living area during the searches and in many cases, all inmates are places in the rec yard or day room.  When we were allowed to return to the bed areas, there were all the meds, laid out for all to see who pass your area before you get to it. NO concern for confidentiality. None. Wouldn’t it be easy place meds under pillow or mattress? So it’s a good idea to get back to the living area first.