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."
MAT Program at Perryville—Is the DOC Keeping Inmates Addicted?
MAT stands for Medication Assisted Treatment. This program is extremely controversial, and it’s difficult to know where to start. To be in this program, the inmate should have had a previous opioid addiction.
There is reportedly a questionnaire that asks the inmate this question, but the ones we interviewed said they didn’t take it. The drug they take is called SUBOXONE and it’s supposed to stop opioid craving.
At pill call, allegedly, the nurse is supposed to crush the pill, so the inmate doesn’t “cheek” it and sell it later. This crushing is hit-and-miss depending on how busy the nurse is.
There is supposed to be counseling with MAT but we couldn’t find anyone that had any. On the official handout about this program, under Suboxone, it says…”Can be misused by people who do not have opioid dependency. “!
The inmates I interviewed who were on the program were mixed. There were those who swore it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. But there were more who admitted they used it to get high…these inmates spoke off the record.
It was explained to me this way: If the nurse doesn’t grind the drug into powder, then they can’t regulate how much they consume. If it’s left in a pill form, they have more control over the ” high” they get from it. There have been many reports, mostly from officers, that many get sick from it and throw up.
Speaking of officers, they are almost 100% against the program. They say it just gets inmates that had been clean and sober for years, to backslide and become addicted again, complements of the State.
Is this a new way for the DOC to keep inmates coming back to prison so that they get more money in their coffers?
PREGNANCY FROM HELL/Perryville Style
(Whew. I just finished a 2-hour interview with this new mom….and I’m exhausted. I’m forwarding this to the media, Judge Silver, Director Thornell, and Governor Hobbs.).
Ms. Thomas in her own words. “I’ve never been in prison before, I’ve never been in trouble before.
My horror story started at intake in Perryville prison. I told them I was 31 weeks pregnant, I hadn’t eaten in 10 hours, and I was dehydrated. They insisted I take a glucose tolerance test anyway. I passed out and hit the floor. When I woke up I was with the charge nurse who was visibly worried. Because I was pregnant, she called an ambulance and I was taken to the hospital, where I received 4 units of fluids.
Immediately upon returning to the prison I was assigned a room in R and A. There was no mattress on the steel bunk, and when I asked the guard where it was he slammed the door in my face. That night I slept on a blanket.
The “extra” pregnancy diet is bread, milk, and peanut butter. I happen to be deathly allergic to beans and peanut butter. Who knew prison food would have beans at every meal? I told the guards every day I couldn’t eat this stuff, but for 18 days I was ignored. Me and my baby got very hungry.
At last, when I was transferred to San Carlos unit I thought maybe I can eat now. Nope, a White Shirt (Trinity employee) named Price tormented me. On my first day on Carlos, I requested my special no beans, no peanut butter, pregnancy diet. Price snarled at me and said, “Go to medical and put in an H and R”.
After four times of being rebuffed, I took a regular tray because I was starving. I told this food nightmare to the prison OB/GYN and apparently, he talked to COIV Senna. Ms. Senna seemed helpful and spoke to Price. But, the next day at the kitchen Price told me ” You’re not in my book, go away!”
By this time my family had put money on my books and I discovered the commissary. A very high-priced prison store, where at last I was able to feed myself and my baby. I never set foot in the prison kitchen again. Why should I fight for milk and bread?
I was pressured constantly by the OB to be induced. Every time I saw him he’d give induction his best pitch, and every time I said no.
Finally, on August 12th I started having cramps and noticed bleeding. I called an ICS and was taken to medical. The nurse asked if my water had broken yet, and when I said no she wanted to send me back to the bay. Having your water break is not the only criterion for eminent birth. They didn’t check to see if I was dilated either.
For most of the day, I remained in my cube moaning in pain…contractions and bleeding continued. Again I called an ICS. I told the nurses I was going to have this baby. They offered me Tylenol and told me to rest.
Finally, at 10 pm I had enough and screamed in pain. I was put in a wheelchair, where two wise-cracking guards said, “You sure you’re pregnant?”. The night nurse said she’d have to call the Provider. At long last, near midnight, I was in an ambulance going to the hospital. I was dilated 9cm and went to delivery.
After my baby was born I asked the nurses when I was going to the Tucson facility to bond with my child. I had been pre-approved to go to this ranch for the 72-hour bonding allowed me. The nurses dismissed me and told me I was staying there for 72 hours. One nurse said, ” That program doesn’t exist anymore “. I knew that was a lie because I booked it only 2 weeks ago! A different nurse came in and confided, ” The guards just don’t want to drive all the way to Tucson.”
So I spent the next 72 hours in a hospital room trying to bond with my baby under the worst circumstances. A lot of a newborn’s time is sleeping. Every guard duo I had cussed up a storm, was loud and disrespectful. They’d pull up the blinds when my baby was trying to sleep.
I’ll never forget the clerk to COIV Senna said, “You’ll be fine….they only put the GOOD guards on maternity detail”. Well, if these were the ” good” guards, I’d hate to see the worst!
On my last day the female guard gave me my prison clothes back. Then she looked at the bag I got from the hospital. It had after-birth care products, pads, cleansers, and a breast pump. The guard dumped it all out and said I couldn’t take any of it with me! How will I take care of myself?
All of this just topped off a grueling and painful experience, where I was deprived of any sense of dignity.”
Chronic Punishment: AZDOC’s Deplorable Health Care For Elderly And Infirm
Instead of “rehabilitating” people in prison (physically, mentally, or otherwise), they are kept in a constant state of illness and despair. The Bureau of Justice statistics show a huge proportion of inmates are impacted by disease, disability, and mental illness.
What we want to focus on in this piece is the special needs of the elderly and infirm in Perryville. Instead of asking, “Should cancer prevalence be higher or lower in prison?” a better question is “Why should a 70-year-old with cancer and heart disease be locked up at all?”
The For-Profit healthcare vendors the DOC hires are designed to treat acute problems rather than to prevent chronic disease in the first place. Rates of medical problems are much higher for older people. For elderly inmates, the percentage of hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease is an astounding 78%!
The prison environment makes it difficult for people to pursue a lifestyle and diet that staves off these problems. Prison diets hardly promote public health. Incarcerated people are forced to eat what the public has been told for years to avoid. There is the famous “shmeat” served to Perryville women as “heart healthy protein. We know it’s chicken BY PRODUCTS…. PET FOOD is what it was intended to be. Look on your dogs’ chow bag right now and look at the first ingredient, I bet it’s Chicken By Products!
When we are sentenced to prison, why don’t they also add, ” And you will get NO fresh fruits or vegetables for the entire time you’re there.” 60% of the ladies here have disabilities. 78% for those over 65. Perryville is a makeshift nursing home!!
This is Arizona’s most wasteful, morally bankrupt policy to date. Our solution? Accelerate medical parole. Expand parole eligibility for those above 65 years old. This is known as geriatric parole. These reforms should go hand in hand with other decarceration efforts, like expanding earned good time credits.
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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.
Hi Cynthia! I’m not sure if you’ll see this but I am so sorry for what you went through. Thank you for sharing a glimpse of your story. I would love to ask you questions as I am exploring ideas for my doctoral capstone and am interested in issues in the AZ Women’s Prison. Is there any way we could talk further?
That was my friend 😭 she was cool ag and funny. I feel bad I had to leave San Carlos for Cruz. But fck their medical center, the whole prison is fucked up and corrupted. I’ve been out for 8 months now and I still remember everything like yesterday especially with health care. Like can the prison do an upgrade and fix their shit or will more ppl have to die like my friend here? It’s fucked up because I knew she was having a hard time in the beginning getting her shots. We both came from the same county. She wasn’t even a criminal like person. She was fun, bright and very smart, like she could’ve went to college. She had alot planned for herself…damn I love Jowell thank for the laughs and being a loyal friend. Rest in Paradise
Yeah, she was a very cool person to know. She would hug you when she saw you with a big smile. She was always cool to everyone, no hate or anger in her heart but she probably did towards ADOC health employees
I was incarcerated for 9 years and just released March 2024. In 2019, my stomach swelled up and I looked 9 months pregnant. They told me I had impacted stool and had me drink a laxative. The pain got worse, I couldn’t breath or walk and this went on for 2 months. My family contacted the ACLU and prison and finally in February 2020 I was sent to the hospital and diagnosed with Stage 3 Ovarian cancer. I was in the hospital for 10 days and started chemo. I went back to the prison and was expecting chemo every 3 weeks. It took over a 3 weeks for me to get scheduled for my next chemo. In May, I had just came back from chemo and was told I was packing up and being sent to San Carlos. I had to load and unload all of my belongings after a day of chemo and was being transferred to a yard with 1300 women. I then had surgery to remove the cancer in July and once released from the hospital was sent to Maria and put in a cell, by myself with no A/C. I had to move everything by myself and carry a chair out to take a shower. I had an incision from belly button to my pubic bone. Finally after 2 weeks, I was sent back to Carlos. I was told later that I had peritoneal cancer and not ovarian, after I had had a complete hysterectomy. I never had a follow up PET scan to make sure the cancer was gone. In March of 2023, I started seeing a new oncologist, Dr. Benjamin and he finally ordered a PET scan and saw that I had cancer again in the same area of my stomach. I had surgery again in May and started six rounds of chemo. Between the medical Dr’s John and Johnson my medical treatment at the prison was horrible. They didn’t give me anything but Tylenol and Excedrin for the pain and I had to fight to get an extra mattress and extra milk for protein shakes. If I didn’t have my family to support me and stand up for me I would have died. I applied for clemency 2 times and because I wasn’t dying in 3 months, I was refused. Something needs to change with the health system and prison.