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Medical treatment in women's prisons range from brutal to non-existant
by prisoner advocate
Wednesday May 1st, 2002 9:38 AM
Death was not a part of their sentence.
The Nation

May 6, 2002


By Cynthia Cooper



















Gruesome stories roll out across the country:











Comments  (Hide Comments)

by Tough Love
Friday May 3rd, 2002 9:27 PM
Crime doesn't pay.
by Carlo
(caji5 [at] Tuesday May 20th, 2003 8:47 PM
After a brief stint fifteen days for a violation of probation
for a crime that wasn't comitted, a violation that wasn't either save for coercion, books should be written about how they treat an ordinary citizen and how they treat the spoils of war. Call them fiction for the uninformed citizen doesn't care or won't believe. Teachers not bombs and jails.

Wake up America, there is more going on than the activity in our front yards. The world needs us, we need the world.

How about some comunity involvement at the local jail level and some sensitivity training for our jailers. They are people too, most of them.

My old friend Clarence an intelligence Officer who helped plan the Gulf War . . . War and peace don't just happen[they are planned] cracked up after he saw the results of his plans. Went to work after a forced early retirement from the military. Went to work as a corections officer and it pushed him furhter under a rock. The man is a genius and has been crushed by what his service has opened his eyes to. His inability to understand the construction of integrity and Mother Earth . . . the important role we all play in it . . .

I don't judge, just try to live and accept things at face value. Be part of the solution if there is a problem? It isn't easy building a world. . . not for capitalists.

Think nationally if not globally or Universally.

By help of God.
by interested
(bluejollyrancher14 [at] Tuesday Sep 9th, 2003 12:54 PM
I'm a senior in high school taking a college course at a local community college. my english class just got done reading an article by Wil S Hylton from Harper's magazine called "Sick on the Inside"..basically the article talks about CMS (correctional medical services) and how NEGLECTFUL they are with prison inmates. it sickened me and appalled me to read that article and everything that was going on to those people who needed treatment for hepatitis. after reading it, I was interested in looking up CMS online..and I've found many law cases of people suing CMS, but have gotten nowhere. CMS is using $550 million of taxpayers money to fund it, but they aren't required to tell where all of this money is going to. Most of it is probably being pocketed! If anybody wants to read the "sick on the inside" article, email me and I'll be more than happy to send you the link to the article. its just sickening how people are treated in prison. Sure..maybe they've done something wrong, and "deserve whats coming to them"..but these people are SICK and need medication just like everybody else.
by tina
Wednesday Sep 17th, 2003 5:24 PM
I work in a prison as a registered nurse, and I would like to say I am a great nurse who works in the medical unit, mental health unit, ect. I feel the inmates come in to jail and this is basically their first exposure to medical services. They have medical services(inpatient and outpatient), mental health(Inpatient and outpatient, dental clinics, eye clinics, obgyn doctors, medical doctors, etc. Everybody does the best they can and I have only seen them treated fairly.
by Jeanni
Friday Sep 19th, 2003 3:30 PM
I work in a state correctional facility. I see what our provider (doctors, nurses, specialist, etc.) do every day. They work very hard at getting what the patient needs. It is hard when some can't remember who their doctor was because they only seen him/her one time and had not follow up care or the bounce around from one emergency room to another. I've seen a (roughly) 45 year old woman who didn't know what a pap smear was. I've worked with dentist and they had to in the end pulling almost half of the patients teeth because for the last 20 years they never seen a dentist and the use of some illegal drugs did not help their teeth much less their bodies. I believe the public needs to look hard at where these offenders come from and how they have led their lives. People die on the streets every day and those deaths are not investigated. These prisons are small communities and there will be deaths and imperfections just as there are in the real world. If the real world was perfect we wouldn't what the call malpractice.
by Debbie & Rudy
(fogherrera [at] Thursday Jun 10th, 2004 11:02 AM
Just remember when you serve the least of these (those who are in prison) you are doing unto God. Please look up to God He will be our judge in the end.
by CT
Thursday Nov 11th, 2004 4:00 PM
I was in prison in California, including Chowchilla, VSP and CIW. I spent alot of time going in and out before I finally figured it out....I've turned my life around now. But I still keep in touch w/many of my lifer friends in CA prisons, particularly CIW. I have first hand knowledge of the lack of medical care there, and in the other prisons as well. I almost died at CIW because of a blockage in my small intestines that the esteemed medical staff insisted was hepititus, "because you're a drug addict, it must be hep". It wasn't. Many of my friends write to me about what is STILL going on there, and it's terrible. And for the person who said "don't do the crime" or whatever it one deserves to die like women are dying in CA. You don't have a clue what goes on in there.
by trina p.
Friday Nov 26th, 2004 11:07 AM
i hope articles like this, and the people doing the advocacy work in them, help make posititve changes in prisons and society. and i hope someone sends this article to the big breast cancer fund raising institutions to get some of their money and staff to alleviate this needless and sadistic pain caused women prisoners. and how can the politicians, etc., justify not paying for any medical care [and drug treatment and abuse prevention programs to begin with], when prisons and legal / court and emergency medical care are so much more expensive than preventitive care?!! plus, to give lip service to helping children / families while punishing the mothers is hypocritical and absurd. get a clue, people; stop treating people in povery like they have some kind of moral failing--poverty is not a crime, and it needs to stop being treated like one. lastly, please put the men who make and distribute the drugs, and rape and pimp and beat up the women and children in jail, not their victims!!!
by leviguy
(oakstan [at] Thursday Dec 30th, 2004 1:42 PM
You obviously don't know what goes on in many womens' prisons. In GA state prisons the women have to pay $5.00 each time they go to sick call. If they don't have the money it is shown as a debit on their account and sucked up if they receive any support from the outside. $5.00 if they need a bandaid, or have pneumonia. Doctors will not prescribe adequate pain medication and will not recognize prescriptions written by contract specialists employed by GDC. The most powerful pain medication they carry is Darvocet. Nurses are insensitive and ignore even complaints of patients with life endangering diseases such as Hepatitis B or C, AIDS, Heart Disease, etc. I correspond with women in GA prisons and am involved with advocacy groups. There is, to be kind, a general lack of concern by and competence of GDC medical personnel in womens' prisons, lack of public support to insist on better medical care, and lack of concerned family members and friends who could go a long way in bringing individual cases to public awareness. Even if staff cared as they should, (as you observe) GDC is mandated only to provide the bare bones minimal medical care.
by a.e.
(dokter_jones [at] Monday Jan 10th, 2005 9:09 AM
I understand the severity of the problem, as well as the gruesome goings on within these prisons. However, a lot of these problems would be eliminate with money. But who is going to pay for it. Everyone complains about the taxes they pay already, and that is where the money would be derived from, our pockets. If you are so upset about this, help Amnesty Internation out, or organize your own fundraisingm or volunteer medical services if you are able to. Instead of whining, do something about it, act on it, use your skills to help. This needs more than media attention, this problem needs help.
by WB
Tuesday Nov 15th, 2005 11:02 AM
Nothing has changed since was posted. There are still $5 for any medical visit or even a request for a bandaid. My husband has a disease and Im seeing first hand the battle I have to fight on his behalf to try to get him proper medical care. The facility he is in has had two different doctors in the last year and in the last 3 months no doctor. Two of the medications my husband is on requires weekly blood test in order to adjust the dose. He is given his medications 30 days at a time. So when the 30th day comes there is no doctor to re-issue his drugs. So not only is he not receiving blood test but he often goes without his meds for up to two weeks till they get a doctor over there to review his case. Still no blood test.
An operation was ordered by an outside specialist 2 years ago, it has since been cancelled by the MDOC.
Sometimes my husband looks not too bad, and then the next visit his eyes are bulging and he is covered in sweat. He can easily lose 20lbs in a week. Ive been battling this for a few years now and getting absolutely no where. Why doesnt anyone care. The cuts in the budget for the state of Michigan this year didnt help either and that is why his operation has been cancelled. That is why there is no doctor at his facility anymore. That is why they cancelled the MRI he was suppose to have.
I just hope they know that I have documented everything and if anything happens to my husband, I will make it internation news !!!!!!!!!
I fully suggest that anyone with a loved one in prison who is sick, gets the proper legal forms filled out in order to have full access to your loved ones medical records.
The medical facilities, staff and care are a disgrace in the prisons in America.
It is the law that prisoners have the right to free and reasonable health care.
by Lady Char Schreffler
(queenofhthelighthouses [at] Monday Mar 27th, 2006 3:08 PM
I read the article, and I do symphathize with the prisoners, who are not getting the right treatment. It is unhumane, and this country we live in should care about their prisoners. I have a GF in the VSPW in Chowchilla, Cal, and i know others there, and I do not want to see this kid of treament, on our prisoners. Can't csomething be done about it. i am a concerned citizen, of the USA. As an older women, i have seen the two facilities built , when I lived in Madera, Cal, and I think men as well as women prisoner's should get better medical treament.
Very Sinverely Lady Char, Schreffler
by Lee
Thursday Aug 24th, 2006 4:05 PM
For almost 2 years, I was a nurse at the local jail in upstate New York. I saw firsthand, just how difficult it was to provide adequate healthcare to these individuals who found themselves incarcerated. Although we were usually understaffed, most of us nurses tried our darndest to be the professionals that we were trained to be. Look at people as patients first. I always took their concerns/questions seriously and responded timely with actions appropriate to their medical situation(s). Ultimately, my professional views conflicted with management and I left the facility. I encourage any/all inmates to be peristent with the medical staff if there is a true medical situation. Remember, though, that respect is a two way street. Talk to people the way you want to be talked to. You will find people much more responsive to your request.
Saturday Dec 23rd, 2006 6:11 PM
Thanks for treating people with respect.
I spent 8 months on the medical yard in Chowchilla Womens Prison. Not being sick myself I got a very good view of the importance that prisons put on female medical attention. My take on it was the training of medical professionals lacked. Not only schooling but compassion. When you are an inmate, no matter what your crime may have been you are all treated the same, no compassion,with no understanding, you are lucky if a guard will give you the time or allow you the opportunity to seek help. There are restricted times when you must fill out a sick call card, wait one to three days and sometimes in great pain before the slowly come call you for your quick and almost inhumane exam. Usually getting sent right back to your upper bunk where you were required to in any way shape or form manuveur your sickly,painfull body up there on your own. Thank God for the hand full of guards who actually took concern and care to those suffering and treated them with the dignity and respect we all gave them. Who with a brain in their heads fake pain,and agony only to be prescribed the usual medication of sudifed. If narcotics where being freely given out and the amount of complaining women all of the sudden rose I would question that. To be honest you could get better, stronger and bigger quantities of street drugs right threw the prison mail system more readily.
Saturday Oct 25th, 2008 1:19 PM
I had a family member who was incarcerated at Tutwiler Prison for Women in Alabama. This is THE only prison for women in the whole State and of course, as you can imagine, it is waaaayyyy overcrowded. She told me of a girl that came from the same county jail where she was and this girl had some type of female cancer. This girl found out soon after arriving at the prison that she was, in fact, dying from the cancer so she had to remain in the so called "medical unit". In order to get medication in this prison, women had to stand in what they call a "pill line" and I'm told these lines can be a 100 long and last for hours. With no air conditioning and having a terminal illness, they still made this girl with cancer stand up in this line and wait for her medication instead of just giving it to her in her bed. I was told that the medical ward was of course, within the infirmary and the girl's bed wasn't 10 feet from the medication room. As I'm sure you can guess, this girl got worse as time passed (who wouldn't w/no love or caring), and before long she could not hardly stand at all. But those guards and nurses STILL made her stand up in this "pill line" and wait, sometimes for over an hour, to get her pain medication. She would wimper like a sick little puppy because she was in so much pain and could not take anymore. No one there who had the power to do anything about this, ever did a thing and right up under the very hour she died, they made that poor girl stand in that pill line just to get her medicine. I was told she would get so weak in line that the other inmates would try to help her and were told by the officers guarding over the pill line, "to leave her be, if she wanted her pain medicine, she would have to stand and get it like everyone else". They actually taunted her about her pain medicine, saying she was "just another addict with a good excuse to get narcotics". They were only giving her DARVOCET for her pain and I also found that to be absolutely UNBELIEVABLE. But I did find out that it was a true story because it hurt me so badly inside that I checked. I found out where she is buried and that she did not, in fact, have any outside people who cared one single thing about her. So she had no help and the prison system, in my opinion, used her as an example to show the other women how bad it could be if you have to stay there for a long long time especially if you are sick. MY PRAYER IS THAT NO WOMEN GOES TO PRISON IN ALABAMA ESPECIALLY AND ESPECIALLY NO ONE WHO HAS A TERMINAL ILLNESS. WHEN I THINK ABOUT THIS STORY, IT MAKES ME SO MAD AND SO HURT IN MY HEART BECAUSE EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED TO THAT POOR GIRL COULD HAVE SO EASILY BEEN AVOIDED. PEOPLE, EVEN IN THE CORRECTIONS SYSTEM, DON'T HAVE TO BE THAT CRUEL......
by Tim McDonald
(treeh2o [at] Monday Jan 12th, 2009 7:11 PM
In my lifetime of activism (I am 64) I have seen how mainstream women's group ignore the plight of women in prison. Story has it that Sojourner Truth appeared before suffragists in the 1850's and said "Ar'n't I a Women?" She was turned away. Suffragists were out to get the vote and equality for white women not Black women. Nothing has changed today. Groups fighting violence against women ignore rape in prisons and jails. The article mentions "hardly a nod from the flourishing and powerful women's health or breast cancer organizations." The message is clear, goodly women seek protection, health, and votes for their own class but any idea that women, be they suffragists or modern feminists, believe all women equal is nonsense. Since prison women are not equal why does anyone expect us to believe in equality for any woman?



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