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."
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.
Naphcare Gives, and Naphcare Takes Away
(Follow up article on “Did Naphcare do something right?“)
Well, that didn’t take long. About 3 weeks ago we announced Naphcare’s new continuity of care program, where each inmate was assigned her own ” team” of Provider, RN, and CNA. The women were wild with appreciation and gave us statements on how wonderful this was for their medical care. The main reason for all this irrational exuberance was, that they would see the same provider and not have to see a new one each time they went to medical. One might guess Naphcare was briefly trying to impress someone…..we wonder who. At any rate, it’s over now, and we’re back to the same ol’ shit.
Did Naphcare do something right??
OMG. We received a bunch of communications within the last 24 hours, about Naphcare implementing a new Provider network. Each resident is now assigned her own “team” of Provider, RN, and CNA. She sees her team each time she goes to Medical and her HNR requests are routed to that team. Continuity of care….what a concept! (Did ACLU threaten them with a firing squad?)
It’s too early to tell how it will all shake out, but we’ll print this excerpt from one lady at Carlos, “I feel like I hit the lotto jackpot! I got my favorite Provider Mrs. Shields, my favorite RN Mr. Anderson, and my favorite CNA Ms. Hansen. No more going to a provider that doesn’t know my history, no more seeing six different providers in two weeks, this is great!”
We will definitely keep a close eye on this story and report back to our readers.
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...
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....
Inmate Sucked into MRI Machine!
We just had a lengthy interview with this 37-year-old young lady. Here is what she told us. "I was going to have an MRI on my breasts at the hospital. As usual, I was chained head to foot, and accompanied by 2 guards. The MRI technician was not there, but the hospital...
Grievances And Complaints About Physical Therapy With Chains On
We received copies of grievances and letters regarding the "impossibility of PT when in chains." One gal with a titanium rod in her leg, complained to the transport officers about removing at least one leg chain so she could do the exercises. The PT therapist himself...
When CO LUCID Is Bay Officer Women Must DEHYDRATE Themselves So They Don’t Get A Ticket!
We have an eyewitness on A bay in San Carlos that has made records of CO Lucid's denial of bathroom breaks during count. Here they are: 6-29 11:43 to ? no announcement of count cleared at 12:11pm 7-12 10:40 to 11:53 7-24 10:45 to Noon This officer makes the elderly...
Televerde Office: We See a Constant Stream of Ambulances Going Into Perryville.
The Televerde office is located on a corner by the main vehicle gate. With this vantage point, they can see the ambulances and which Units they go to all day. The workers reported that they have seen an unprecedented amount of ambulances and fire trucks entering...
Two Guards Go Out Via Ambulance On 7-19-23 From Cruz
Two male guards were rushed to the hospital with heat exhaustion. What is strange is their office, called the bubble, has a/c. How many women need to be rushed to the hospital because they have no cooling at all?
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...
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...
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.