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."
2024 Outstanding Nurse awards…..and the winner(s) are!
This year the votes were tied for best RN of 2024:
Nurse HORNER of Santa Cruz!
Nurse ANDERSON of San Carlos!
Congratulations to both Mrs. Horner and Mr. Anderson for the professional, life-saving, care you provide to the ladies of Perryville!
Did Grave Shift Officer ROGERS Walk by Naked Inmate in Medical Distress?
(A group of women on Charley bay tell this alleged incident.) Robin is the name of a stage 4 cancer patient who needs oxygen to survive. Robin had been complaining about a fever the night before, and this could be why in the middle of the night she had thrown off all her clothes. Unfortunately, witnesses allege her oxygen tube was also off, which might explain the groaning they heard from her, and her apparent distress. Robin’s neighbors say, Officer Rogers repeatedly walked passed Robin’s cube during patrols and did not check on Robin even though she was naked and moaning.
One cube mate finally called out, “Hey Rogers, this woman needs medical attention.” they allege the officer said, “I’m going to finish my walk”. When they insisted, Rogers said, ” She’ll just refuse, and I don’t think there’s anyone in medical anyway.”
According to the ladies in C bay, a nurse arrived just before dawn and took Robin to medical. For unexplained reasons, she was brought back to her cube. Then, reportedly, when the morning shift of medical professionals arrived about 7:30am, Robin was wheeled back to medical and then the ambulance showed up at 8:20am to take her to the hospital.
Maricopa County Jail Takes Blind Woman’s Cane! Then Perryville Gives Her a Walker???
Joanna is 100% blind. When she was arrested on an ancient parole violation, she had her collapsible white cane with the red tip, universally recognized as a blind person’s “eyes”. The jail guards took her cane away claiming she could use it as a weapon. How? She can’t see to hit anyone! All those idiots did was TAKE AWAY HER EYES!
We did some research to find out Maricopa allows seeing people keep their canes, but in their infinite wisdom….takes away the blind ones’ cane!? Who could be more stupid than Maricopa jail? Why Perryville prison of course! Instead of getting her blind stick back from the jail, or ordering a new one, OR giving her a wheelchair in the interim, they give her a WALKER! Talk about an IQ of room temperature. The woman is healthy, she doesn’t need a walker…..she needs a cane to see where she’s going. But, no, San Carlos Medical reportedly was reluctant to give her something useful like a wheelchair.
Fortunately for Joanna, her mother is also on San Carlos and she is some raging Mama Bear! When Mom found out her “cub” was being mistreated, Carlos Medical was in a world of hurt:-) Joanna’s mom “acquired” a wheelchair, went to battle with medical when they tried to put her baby in the SNU (special needs unit, again she’s not sick, she’s blind) and roared her displeasure about Joanna not having a cube, and meals delivered until she could get her cane.
Allegedly, the medical department thought Joanna was “faking” being totally blind because when she was in Perryville in 2009, she had sight in one eye. Duh. Nothing can happen in 15 years?? Someone with a brain finally noticed Joanna’s eyes were “nonreactive to light”, that means blind, people.
This has a happy ending…..reportedly, Joanna has a wheelchair, cane is on order, cube is ready, and she will be enrolled in the braille program. Never underestimate a Mother’s love.
GOOD NEWS, Perryville resident gets multi million dollar settlement!
(We love these stories. Very seldom does the lowly inmate get what she deserves, so this was pure vindication) Robin found out yesterday from the Court, that she had been awarded 6 million dollars from her medical lawsuit in compensatory and monetary damages. This...
Pregnant 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...
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...
No-Care Naphcare the Worst EVER!
(We thought after the ACLU descended on Perryville March 14th, that Naphcare would have the fear of the Lord instilled in them. Oh no, they actually got worse toward the inmates. These are snippets of stories we're working on.) M.L. went in for her chronic care...
Woman with 2 uterine masses, cirrhosis, and portal hypertension fights with Naphcare for a doctor
Ms. R. has been churning out urgent grievances to get healthcare for her diagnosis. Naphcare denies her at every turn. She is in constant, severe pain from the uterine masses discovered by CT Scan at Abrazo West hospital. Naphcare denied her request for a hysterectomy...
Breaking News! Has the DOC sabotaged the Injunction App?
For our readers who don't know why this is so critical, let us explain it to you. On April 7, 2023, the United States District Court for the District of Arizona entered a Permanent Injunction to address the unconstitutional provision of health care and the...
Terminal Cancer Patient, Formerly in Hospice, “in Agony” at Perryville’s San Carlos
(Ed. note: We have seen the patient's original X-ray report and copy of the letter she sent to the Prison Law Office, and of course, we did a one-on-one interview. This article starts with an overview of her situation taken from the letter to Prison Law.) "My name is...
When is Deliberate Indifference Like Murder? How a 26-Year-Old Died at San Carlos
(Jowell Jones was only 26 years old with her whole life ahead of her when she was tragically cut down by alleged negligent health care. Many girls close to her were interviewed for this story, so this is a composite of those observations. Only first-hand eyewitness...
Woman Suffering Weeks Of Severe Mental Breakdown, And They Don’t Care, And They Do Nothing
A minimum security dorm-style warehouse has 8x6 cubes in 12 rows x 12 columns. The cube is completely open because the partitions of this living space only come up to your hip. The security cameras can see, the guards can see, and all the residents can see every cube....
Woman:”I’m in a wheelchair forever, thanks to DOC’s medical vendors’ neglect and malpractice “
M.J.'s medical nightmare began July 22, 2021. She woke up with no balance and her right leg dragging. M.J. immediately called an ICS and was seen by Provider Johnson. He diagnosed it as neuropathy without ordering an MRI or XRAY. Later that week she fell and hit her...
Elderly Diabetic With Sepsis Forced On Her Knees
A woman in her 70s was told to get on her knees and CRAWL FULLY CHAINED into a van to go to the hospital. This all started with a spider bite on the woman's stomach. When you have diabetes, any wound can become easily infected. The lady did go to medical when she got...
Woman Left in Agony for Hours at San Carlos
An Air Force veteran we featured before, had another severe injury to her previously broken leg. Her knee and ankle were left hideously swollen just before 11 am count. CO Lara was informed immediately, but she asked the inmate if she could wait until count had...
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.