Health Horror Stories
"These stories of health abuse are not independently verified by the editors of this website. However, all of the women have agreed to a HIPPA release to any qualified attorney willing to take their case, or to an investigative reporter from the media."
Update on Tiffany
Sources close to Tiffany said she continued to have severe seizures at Carlos. They said recently that Tiffany was suffering terrible pain and inflammation at her mastectomy site. She showed her friends, so there would be witnesses, of her horribly disfigured top surgery.
Finally, she couldn’t take it anymore and walked to medical, passed the electronic door, down the hall to the provider, and raised her shirt at him, and said, “LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO ME!”. The provider immediately called 911 and she was taken to the hospital. Reportedly, she spent an entire week there.
Let’s all pray for Tiffany.
Tiffany’s Cancer Travail
Another botched diagnosis, with accompanying malpractice, by DOC’s medical provider. We’ll let Tiffany tell her own story. She had the foresight to compile a diary.
“In April of 2020, I noticed a lump in my right breast. I immediately put in an HNR to have it examined. The nurse and the provider both palpated the breast and proclaimed that it was “just fatty tissue”. Four weeks went by and this lump had grown much larger, so I put in a 2nd HNR. In May I was seen by the provider again, and she still thought it was fatty tissue, but because of my age (38), she sent me out for a mammogram and ultrasound (5-22-20). Those scans called for an immediate biopsy on 6-9-20. On 6-11-20 both providers called me into the office to inform me I had “invasive ductal carcinoma”. I broke down and cried my eyes out.
On Aug. 5th, I was in a daze when they wheeled me into surgery for a double mastectomy. I spent five weeks in the prison “hospital” (IPC). There the “nurses” incorrectly handled my drainage tubes, did not change my bandages often enough, and I got an infection. By the first of Sept, my incision site was hot, red, with foul-smelling pus coming out. The IPC nurses said that was normal! Fortunately for me, I was scheduled for a follow-up appointment at Banner on Sept 2nd.
The OB/GYN that examined me was shocked. She said I had cellulitis and sepsis, and immediately ordered an antibiotic IV for me. She had a few choice words for the IPC “care” I had been receiving. I was returned to IPC with orders for five different antibiotics, that lasted until Oct.1st! At this time I was put on a chemo pill because my “heart was not strong enough for a port” chemo. Then there was more bad news. The real doctor at Banner said I needed a complete hysterectomy! I’m also scheduled for a “top redo” because of the nurse infection….. I don’t know which one they are going to do first. They decided to release me from IPC and send me back to my “cube” at San Carlos. Within a week of returning to Carlos, I suffered 5 seizures. I despair of my chances.
I’m due to be released from prison on July 6th, but I don’t know if I’ll make it.”
“I lay on the hot cement for hours with a broken back and leg!”
Dateline Lumley: We were suspicious of this story until we saw the legal paperwork from her lawyer that confirmed it. This is her post.
” In December of 2019, I was struggling with one of the cell doors that wouldn’t close. In that effort, I fell to the floor abruptly and heard a crack in my back. I was told by medical it was just a “bruise”.
Later on in the year, my legs would suddenly turn numb and I’d fall. This got worse until July 12th when my legs went out and I fell hard. This happened at about 10 in the morning. I felt severe pain in my right thigh and heard a crack. I looked at my thigh and saw a bulge under the skin.
Various guards said I was “faking” and would not call an ICS for medical help. Even the Lieutenant said, “You can just lie there because we’re not calling medical, and I’m giving you a ticket for not locking down. And then I’m going to lock you up for 72 hours straight.”. The guards just taunted me while I lay on hot concrete, with what I was sure, a broken leg. I lay crying like that until after count when the COIV told them to bring me to her office. They put me in a wheelchair and told me to “drive myself” to her office. After painfully wheeling myself to the COIV’s door, she let me wait in the hot sun for another 2 hours. She finally came out of her office to say, “Look I know your faking, so I’m not going to call medical.”
Finally, at 3 pm when it was obvious wasn’t moving, I was taken to medical, where they noticed my strange looking leg. The nurse immediately called the Doctor at the complex, and he directed me to X-Ray. When the X-Ray came back the technician screamed, “Oh my God she has a broken femur!”. Then things started to happen. I was rushed to the hospital with a compound fracture of the femur. That hospital examined me and said I needed immediate surgery at the trauma center. I was rushed to the roof to be transported by helicopter to the Trauma Center hospital.
It took two surgeries to fix my leg. In the midst of this stay, the hospital told me I also had a broken back! The “bruise” they refused to x-ray in December, was two compressed fractures in my lower back. This was the reason for my falling, because of the pressure on my nerves that control the legs!
Will another million dollar lawsuit cure the DOC of reckless endangerment and outright cruelty? I doubt it. Please voters….vote with your heart this election day. Vote for prison reform and human decency.”
RATS taking over Perryville!
We posted a story on Sept 26th about rats at complex kitchen, but since then people have reported severe rat infestations at all units. An eyewitness at SANTA CRUZ files this story. "The rats started invading the grounds near the V gate a few months ago. This rapidly...
A 10-minute stroll through San Carlos
"I am an outside worker on Perryville. I casually watch this website, but this is the first time I have contributed. At around 9 am, I walked from Admin to the Medical office, this is what I observed. The Keefe workers in the store, serving customers, DID NOT HAVE...
RATS at Perryville Complex Kitchen!!
Several Complex (where all inmate food is prepared) kitchen workers recently posted this news: " During my shift yesterday, (9/25/20) we were removing pallets of bread and discovered 3 cases had been eaten by rats. As we entered the storage area, I saw two Trinity...
An 80-year-old Woman’s Perspective on Perryville
"Hi, my name is Joy and I arrived in Perryville 2019 at the ripe old age of 78. I used a cane when I came in, and now I'm wheelchair-bound. I'm serving a 2-year sentence for a white-collar crime I did not commit. Although I am a cancer survivor, I was in reasonably...
A Eulogy to Tracy Qutero, rest in peace
We have received several emails and tear-stained handwritten letters about the inmate who died on Tuesday on Santa Cruz. We let her friends speak. " Tracy was one of my best friends. She had been in a car accident prior to coming to Perryville, and was in a lot of...
Mental Health Crisis in Perryville
We have unfortunately learned of another suicide on Santa Cruz yesterday. Visits are the life blood of every inmate, and being cut off from the warm embrace of family is heartbreaking. The DOC resists every effort by mental health professionals to install more therapy...
“Waiting for a hysterectomy in prison”
Letter from a patient. "I have been waiting for a hysterectomy for 3 years in Perryville. I have endured almost continual bleeding for that long. The DOC's for-profit health insurance will try anything to get out of paying for that surgery. At first, they denied the...
The Mental Health Toll of COVID and Quarantines
With our women currently held in lock-down since March, their access to communication with the outside world has been severely restricted. Add the additional 14 day quarantine of only an hour a day recreation, you have a mental health disaster that has not been...
Filthy and Crowded with No Soap in the Bathroom
Dateline: San Carlos Medical 8-18-29. Pill call and temp checks were called at the same time today. The inside of the lobby was PACKED with inmates trying to get medication and temp checks, all at the same time. Only 3 women were wearing masks. It was absolute chaos...
Snippets Overheard
Nurse Tony said to nurse Pennington, "Well, we better hurry with pill call or we'll be on that Perryville women blog!". Yes, ladies, my ears are everywhere:-)-----------------------------Lumley emptied out 2 wings in closed custody, to accommodate COVID inmates at...
Shortcuts in Medical?
Getting needed medication when you're in prison isn't an easy process at the best of times. You have to report to pill call at a specific time. You line up with everyone else needing to get their meds, standing outside in the weather. Rain? Stand in line. Heat? Stand...
The DOC is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic
We are in touch with some members of the Directors COVID Task Force. They gather information about how things are working on the units. This committee finds additional measures to keep inmates safe. Here are the core items on their list. Let's go through them and...
I was in prison for 17years and have seen so many people die in front of me It’s traumatic and I have PTSD from it. Medical never helped me for my heart problems, never took tests, just told me I have congested heart failure and didn’t do anything for me. I saw it every day. They never helped us, made us always feel like we were lying and would send us away. Making people work in the kitchen who have scoliosis, heart problems, people who have AIDS and Hep C as well as other STDs. There’s rat poop on our kitchen food, birds all over our trays that we eat off of making us all even sicker, black mold everywhere. We can’t breathe in our cells due to all the mold and crud in our walls, vents, and coolers. They are trying to kill us – they don’t care and the money they get for us does not go to us. There is so much more.
I’ve been sexually attacked by the CO police officers twice. I have my whole life to account for in there and I’m surprised I made it out after 17years. They have medium inmates on max yards getting assaulted and they don’t care. They say it is due to no room. They also send you to max yard as punishment without ever getting tickets. It’s all retaliation. They will ruin your life if you don’t do what they want. They make up lies, yep the sergeants, if you refuse to work because you don’t feel good. I heard a Sergeant say “Oh you’re going to hurt yourself” then cuff her up and put her in isolation when the girl never said it. I’ve seen it all, believe that.