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."
Carlos Medical Disasters
1) Woman has surgery on her elbows. She goes to Carlos nurses line for wound care. The so-called “nurse” told that patient, “I don’t see anything here from the surgeon for wound care, so I’m not touching you, giving you gauze, ointment, or anything else.” That elderly lady went back to her bay and cried her eyes out. Fellow inmates to the rescue! Her friends gathered gauze, bandages, antibiotic ointment, and cleaned her bloody wounds themselves. The surgeon did prescribe antibiotics, but No-Care Naphcare is famous for not giving post surgery antibiotics, so of course she developed an infection. Two weeks later when the surgeon saw her he was “appalled” that his patient had not received basic care. As of this writing, she is still infected, and has oozing sores.
2) 65 year old slips and falls in the kitchen, and both male officers refuse to call an ICS even though she can’t move and is holding her knee in pain. Three inmates pick her up and carry her back to Bravo bay. Her knee is now the size of a basketball. Reluctantly, the bay officer takes the lady to medical. Carlos medical doesn’t give her a wheelchair, ice, food lay-in tray, or pain pills. They tell her she’ll go in for X-rays in “a few days”. Five days later the swelling has not gone down, she can’t put weight on that leg, so they magnanimously give her crutches to hobble on. EIGHT DAYS from her fall the 65 year old goes to X-Ray and a horrified technician calls Carlos with the result….the elderly lady BROKE HER KNEECAP IN HALF! This news finally gets her to a hospital for much delayed surgery.
What fiends work there????
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.
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...
Are These Some Of The Reasons Perryville Residents Have Such An Alarming Rate Of Cancer?
This took some deep digging, and investigative interviews to finally nail down what is labeled "Not for human consumption". The prevailing answer was it's the "mechanically separated chicken" inmates call shmeat. But no! It is something much more diabolical, and so...
Warden, Would You Eat In A Restaurant That Had No Dishwasher?
We were astounded to learn that San Carlos has NO DISHWASHER. How that escaped our attention for so long is mystifying, but we recently had a slew of letters about it. In interviewing residents that worked at Carlos kitchen, we were able to get a clear picture of the...
No-Care Naphcare sued for $26.75 Million!
This was the verdict in Washington State, for the death of Cindy Hill after being denied care for a ruptured a intestine. Naphcare was accused of "subjecting inmates to risk of serious harm" and "putting profits over the medical wellbeing of inmates." The complaint...
New Data from World Prison Brief
This organization counted 2,068,800 US citizens incarcerated. That is an astounding 25% of the world's total prison population. Keep in mind we comprise only 4.17% of the world's total population in 2023, giving America the highest per capita rate of incarceration....
Overcrowding In Perryville Causing Mental Health Crisis
Overcrowding is not the only reason for the mental health disaster that affects the ladies here, but it's a big contributor. The crowding is most felt in the dorm-style units, as there is absolutely NO PRIVACY. The lights burn all day and night....imagine trying to...
Guard Recounts Sad MAT Story
We have reported on this misguided MAT program, that turns clean and sober women into opioid addicts again....FOR MONETARY GAIN. Research revealed the culprit is the Republican-led legislature. Of course. We were fortunate enough to interview two women recently...
WOMAN WITH ONE LUNG MADE TO BREATHE 2nd HAND SMOKE FOR TWO YEARS!!!!!
The DOC and San Carlos administration has come to an all-time low. This sweet, shy, lady who lost a lung in a traffic accident, has been condemned to breathe toxic fumes from the smoking bathroom. Her cube is only a few feet from A bays designated smoking bathroom. (A...
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...
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.