Stories Direct from The Inmates
Life in PerryvillePregnant Women Starved and Neglected in Perryville!
(Editorial note: To the Pro-Life Republicans in this (still) red state. If you really value the unborn and support young mothers, then why do you let incarcerated women be hungry, and neglect their medical needs? These are three women telling the same story.)
“I’m hungry all the time, but especially on the weekends when we only get two meals…breakfast at 7 am and dinner at 6 pm. Dinner takes even longer to get a meal because diets eat last, so I have to wait till after 7 pm. Pregnant people are supposed to get 3 extra milks, one peanut butter sandwich, and a small egg or chicken salad per day, IN ADDITION to a regular meal. It never works out that way. The white shirts and kitchen officers are mean to us. Sometimes we don’t get the egg salad, and if we complain they say, ” I’ll give it to you this time but if you bother me again I’ll write you up.” Or for breakfast, we don’t get our extra milk and they say, “You got one, go away.” Consistently, one or more of our ‘extra’ food is missing.
If we have to go to a mandatory program and miss more than 5 meals in a week, they cut us out of our pregnancy food entirely! If it wasn’t for the kindness of strangers…my fellow inmates, we’d starve. As it is, my belly feels empty all the time.
I’ve never been to prison before and had no idea the meals were so skimpy. For a typical breakfast tray during the week, all I get is 5 potato pieces, a handful of cereal, and milk. What comes out of that kitchen is disgusting.”
(Ed. None of these 3 ladies has received an ultrasound, prenatal vitamins, or seen the OB/Gyn, and they’ve been here approximately two months. One of the girls is especially worried because she has a heart condition that makes her a high-risk pregnancy, and another is stressed about being given a drug called Suboxone, which might lead to serious birth defects.)
Carlos Medical Gives NO Pain Meds to Cancer Patient!
(She wrote us this letter and begged to have her real name in the story. Ed.)
“My name is Robin Leigh Kulp. I am housed at Perryville prison, San Carlos unit. On 3-25-24 I was having trouble breathing, and having serious chest pain. My legs were throbbing, aching, and burning. An ICS was called as I was unresponsive to medical staff. Nurse Arnott administered Narcan to me, and then Nurse Jones gave me another dose of Narcan. These nurses were aware I had been given morphine earlier.
I was admitted to Abrazo West Hospital and sent to ICU because my oxygen level was only 33%. There I was put on a Narcan drip because Carlos medical staff had failed to provide the hospital with my records. Narcan and morphine can be a deadly combination. Dr. Jordyne at the hospital immediately stopped the Narcan drip when he found out I was on morphine.
The doctor released me three days later and changed my medication to Percocet and gabapentin instead of morphine. The providers here are not specialists in cancer treatment, nor apparently, pain management. Carlos providers are not giving me ANY pain medication, or ANY of the medication prescribed by real off-site doctors.
I live in constant pain from nerve damage in my legs, my feet are turning purple, my chest hurts, and I can’t sleep. Will they just let me die like this?”
Why Women DON’T Ask For Mental Health Care
(A rebuttal to Director Thornell’s out-of-touch letter to the inmate population. A first-hand recent account.)
“My dad had just died and I felt like joining him. I went to medical and informed the guard that I felt like hurting myself. At first, he tried to talk me out of it by saying ‘It’s better here than there’ meaning the watch building. I insisted so he handcuffed me and I waited for a van to ” watch”.
At the watch building I was stripped out, put in a smock that didn’t close, so had to clamp my arms together to keep it from falling off. In the cell, all I was given were two blankets and a thin mattress. I was on constant watch for 3 days, which meant an officer was outside the cell looking at me all the time.
I did not see a mental health official until the 2nd day, and that was a nurse for a brief 10 minutes. Recreation was 30 minutes a day but only at 4:30 am. Water was from the faucet no cup. Food was only sandwiches, nothing hot and it was FREEZING in there. Third day was identical to the second. I then graduated to a 20-minute watch, and got clothes on the 4th day.
Throughout this ordeal, the only mental health official I saw was 10 minutes a day with no counseling, only questions….’You gonna hurt yourself?’. The next two days was 10 minute watch, then 5 minutes with my first book and my first hot meal.
After over a week of torture, I was unceremoniously dumped back at my Bay, without ever having any kind of counseling or seeing a psych person beyond a nurse. I finally saw a psychology person who could prescribe, more than two weeks after I first asked for help. The so-called counseling was abysmal. “
Patient Finds Erroneous Information In Her Medical File
We get many reports of people in Perryville that find wrong records in their files. This particular patient was undergoing an endoscopy when the doctor asked about her liver transplant. "Liver transplant?!" she exclaimed. She had never even come close to having one....
Wrong Diagnosis of Cancer Could Have Caused Suicide!
.(See June 24th story of "Another cancer causality on Carlos") Provider JOHNS misdiagnosis of end-stage cancer put GG in severe mental distress. Reportedly, she spoke of ending her life between tears of grief. GG was put in IPC to, allegedly, receive " better pain...
Is Lumley Out Of Control? An Eyewitness Story
(Editors note: Lumley unit has always been veiled in secrecy. Both inmates and staff go there for a reason. It's rare we get an individual that is willing to tell her story. Remember, we don't vet these stories, we only provide a platform for 1st Amendment rights.) "I...
Elderly Woman Endures 3 Days With Broken Femur, With Only Muscle Rub For Pain!
This one takes the cake. We'll let her tell it in her own words. We will call her "Sue". "I collapsed again on San Carlos, but this time I woke up to terrible pain. My leg was at an awkward angle, but when I tried to straighten it the pain made me pass out again. The...
Diabetic Had Toe Amputated!
(Please refer to our previous report on this patient entitled, *Diabetic faces amputation due to No Care Naphcare*) From the patient herself. "The week before I was admitted to the hospital, I called for an ICS due to the severe pain in my foot. I have subsequently...
One Wrong Shot Left Young Woman Wheelchair Bound
Corizon, the now bankrupted health insurance provider, sent this young lady to a Pediatric surgeon for a very rare congenital bone disease surgery. She should have gone to an Orthopaedic surgeon with specialized training. Corizon is only interested in saving itself...
Medical Off-Site Appointments Being Turned Away
As we have reported in earlier stories, Banner has stopped taking Naphcare insurance. This is another installment in I-dont-believe-they-did-this saga. From inmate's email. "I had been waiting four months for an endoscopy. Finally, I knew my appointment was imminent...
W.E.’s Story
(This is W.E.'s story) " I was born in September of 1950. I have diabetes, heart disease, and COPD. The first week I was at San Carlos an LVN (who shouldn't be doing injections anyway), overdosed me by 10 cc's of insulin. Instead of 4 cc of insulin, she gave me 14! As...
Naphcare Error Endangered a Woman’s Life
(Story in her own words) On January 27th I underwent 3 skin cancer surgeries at Regency Dermatology. After the surgeon sewed up the last wound, he admonished me to "Be SURE to take your antibiotics starting tonight when you return to prison." When I arrived back at...
*IPC: The Journey From Hell and Back* (Diary of an actual patient)
2-1-23 After the surgeon from Regency Dermatology abraded and drained my cheek wound, PA Johnson condemned me to IPC for monitoring. Exhausted and in severe pain, I took a Tylonol 3 and passed out. 2-2 PA Shields came to change my dressing and start an IV. I worry...
DIVINE INTERVENTION? How I got moved from C Bay
February 1st 2023/ It was the best of times and it was the worst of times. This morning an Angel was pushing my wheelchair toward Yard Office....she leaned into my ear and said, "Your long nightmare on Charley bay is over." I was pushed into the Movement Officer's...
Another Pregnancy Nightmare!
Two days after Jimmy Jenkin's article "Prisoners Induced Against Their Will" came out in print, we received a story by a new mother's travail. We will call her "Cassie". Cassie came to Perryville about 8 months pregnant. This is a synopsis of what she wrote. We have...
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