Stories Direct from The Inmates
Life in PerryvilleIs 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 recently left Lumley unit after a three-year stint. Now that I’m removed from that toxic environment, I realize I became desensitized to the evil around me. Drugs were rampant there, largely due to UNATTENDED pill call lines. Women would ” cheek” their pills and sell them on the yard. Allegedly, many drugs came in through staff and contract jobs. The guard on closed custody was recently arrested, (as reported on CBS news) for having sex with inmates on a regular basis. Severely mentally ill people are housed in the general population.
I worked in Education, and I would be aware of the many ICSs and ambulances that would inundate Medical every day. Because this has become such an embarrassment for the DOC, they have gutted the old Programs building to house EMT staff and mental health advisers. This unit already has Perryville’s SNU (special needs unit, “hospice”) and IPC (inmate patient care, ” hospital “) so they are expanding. . For a prison the size of Perryville, there just isn’t enough hospital, or mental health crisis beds to accommodate this population. There are many directives in Judge Silver’s Order and Injunction; a big one is better mental and physical health care. We recently had a new inmate on A yard that tried to hang herself.
According to the paper, $334 million was earmarked to completely air condition Perryville. I’ve noticed no construction here. When it’s 118 degrees we all feel it. Perhaps that is one of the reasons for accelerating the assaults and fights on the yard. Although I’ve tried to address these issues at a Townhall meeting, those meetings are secretive, unscheduled, and questions go unanswered when lucky enough to attend.
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 nurse said my blood pressure was only 65/45, so they were so concerned about that they refused to look at my leg.
They got busy giving me fluids trying to get my pressure up. Officer WATT was very kind fetching me water and fruit cups. When my pressure got to 100/60 Officer WATT told the nurses, ” Look at her leg”, but the nurses sent me back to my Bay with muscle rub for pain. I cried all night in severe pain.
The next day I was wheeled into medical where the nurse said, “Oh, it’s you again.” I told her I think my leg is broken. She had a brief conversation with provider JOHNS, who sent me to X-ray at Complex. Officer AVILA said I had to get pants on as I was in shorts. It took three inmates to help me put pants over my bruised and broken leg. The pain was unbearable.
Officer AVILA pushed my wheelchair to the Vehicle gate and left me in the hot sun. Transport officer GONZALEZ arrives in the regular van and demands I get in. I tell him I can’t get out of this chair, and he’ll have to come back with the wheelchair-accessible van. He grumbles and whines, but eventually gets the correct van.
At Complex x-ray my pain is nonstop as they move me on the slab to get the picture. I am literally screaming my head off. After that, I’m transferred to IPC instead of back to my Bay. That night I was given T3 for pain.
The next morning Dr. Ibham greets me with the news my femur is broken in two places and he’s called 911. Immediately in the hospital, I get an MRI and CT scan, then wheeled right into surgery. Anesthesia was my first pain relief in 3 days. The surgeon told me my surgery went well and that I have a titanium rod now, and he also fixed my knee.
One of the officers that sat in my hospital room was named Blake. This officer treated me with contempt at all times. Blake commandeered my TV remote that had the Nurse call button it. I had to beg her to let me use it for that purpose. When I couldn’t reach something like my water glass, and I asked her for help she always said, “That’s not my job.”
When I was discharged from the hospital, Officer Garcia parked my wheelchair 4 feet from the van, and said nastily, “Get in. I can’t help because I’m not allowed to touch you.” The surgeon ordered me not to put any weight on my leg. No stool, no walker, no cane…..she ordered me TO HOP ON ONE FOOT and get in the van. )Keep in mind I’m also shackled from head to foot.). When they realized the physical impossibility of it all, one officer got behind me and tried to lift my torso, while Officer Garcia took both my knees and jerked me up into the van sideways. I SCREAMED in pain and almost blacked out!
I don’t even remember getting back to Perryville. At the Vehicle gate, there was a discussion among the guards as to where I was going. They decided to deposit me at IPC, but when we got there the nurse said I wasn’t on her list. I begged her to let me spend the night as I knew they’d throw me back in my cube with no medication at all. She agreed because it was only 24 hours since my surgery.
The next morning the head nurse said the on-call doctors told her to send me back to my Bay because they had no “idea what to do with me.” So back to my bay I go, this time via the wheelchair-accessible van. The catch is, no one could get the lift to work properly. Eventually, a Sargent rigged it enough for transport, but the door was sprung. Again at the V gate, officer MARKEL stripped me out and refused to allow me any of my clothes or property or pain meds or KOPs. I spent the night in extreme pain.
The next morning, believe it or not, I go back to IPC. Officer SOTO wheels me to the gate. Officer NELSON comes over and says, “How’s it going” as he KICKS my wheelchair with his foot! I scream in pain, and to her credit, Officer SOTO said to NELSON, “What the hell are you doing, she has a broken leg!” Nelson said he was just “kidding around”, but this is the second time he’s kicked my wheelchair.
This time when I entered IPC, Dr. Ibham greeted me red-faced and fuming! He was so mad. He told me, ” I left specific instructions for you to be sent here to IPC after your discharge from the hospital. What were those #@%* people thinking! I swear this place is so f***up it makes my head swim!”. After he calmed down, he told me why I had been falling down all these many months. The medication I was given for night terrors, Prazozan, was famous for causing falls. It should never have been given to an elderly woman, and any “idiot” should have known better. I stayed 5 more days in IPC. When I get inventoried of all my belongings, there might be another story”
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 found out that the culture of my infection taken that day, was never sent to the lab. This last Friday I was finally taken to Complex x-ray to scan my foot. Two days later Nurse Madrid told me I had an infection to the bone.
I was taken to the hospital where a Podiatrist did an MRI and confirmed the diagnosis….. the toe had to be amputated. After surgery, the doctor said he’d gotten all the infection in the bone. He was careful to admonish me to not take off the bandage, and that he would do that himself in his clinic next week.
I was returned to IPC briefly to have my vitals done, get my antibiotics, and T3 for pain. They wanted to keep me in IPC but I begged them to let me go back to the bay. They almost didn’t give me a wheelchair chrono because of the ” chronic shortage” of wheelchairs.
I was already in the process of a medical grievance regarding this, but now I’m going to file another one under Mental Health for my mental anguish. I didn’t have to lose a part of me……this could all have been avoided if I’d had basic health care.
The Guard Let Me Fall – by J.M.
I went to the hospital for heart failure. Just before I was discharged, I had to go to the bathroom. I'm 72 years old, and they had me shackled with a belly chain, hand cuffs, and feet cuffed. When the female guard started to help me up, she let go too soon and I...
Just Drink Water – by C.A.
I have had Crohn's disease for 6 years before I came to Perryville. Corizon said "it's cured" even though they gave me no treatment for it. The provider prescribed medication for I.B.S. (totally different disease than Crohn's) and that caused me to start throwing up...
State Sponsored Gas Chambers!
Here are 2 inmates with COPD from inhaling second-hand smoke. Both began to get symptoms some years into their incarceration at Perryville. A.G.V: "I am a life long non-smoker. After 10 years incarcerated in Oklahoma, I was transported to Perryville prison. There is...
News from Lumley Unit – Jan 2019
This editor personally interviewed four new inmates that came from Lumley to Santa Cruz unit. They were interviewed separately, but all had the same story. A Yard: showers and sinks, and all water available to the women is cold. (How would you like a cold shower on a...
Interview with Inmate 1997 – 1/12/19
This I/M (inmate) arrived at Perryville in November of 1997. She was 52 years old at the time, and had never smoked. The AZDOC was always lax about enforcing the no-smoking in the room policy, but in the 90's apparently it was non-existent. Her roommates smoke in the...
Health Horror Stories
"Our Medical Department is so lacking for proper care. Us prisoners are covered by Access - yet every prisoner pays D.O.C. $4.00 for medical or dental. Why? Where does our $4.00 go? Last time I checked Access was free for people who need help. Women have gotten cancer...
Prison Slavery
"Department of Corrections is in NO WAY a correction for anyone. The taxpayer is being drained for things we don't even have, or hope to have. The only things we receive is toilet paper, pads, tampons, but only received enough of these recently. We don't receive soap,...
Programs
"A lot of women do not deserve to be in prison. Drug related crimes means they need help, both mentally and emotionally. There is a Root Cause to their Pain. If Arizona would sentence then to Drug Rehabilitation Program for their years to fit the crime, they could...
Just take aspirin
I have Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. My Corizon provider says it's "too expensive" to treat, so just take aspirin. This disease cause me to grow a beard. I got a ticket for not shaving! A.P.
Stroke
In 2014 I had a stroke in prison. Half my face was paralyzed, and I was rushed to West Valley Hospital, where a CT scan confirmed the diagnosis. I kept telling my unit provider that my blood pressure was high, but they insisted it was "in range" and prescribed no...
Plumbing?
"Just before Christmas 2018 my toilet stopped working. The button refused to flush. The guards gave me a bucket to pour water into the toilet - that doesn't completely fix it you know! After 3 days of being locked up in that sewer/cell, the grey shirts fixed it." D.B.
News from Santa Cruz Inmates
In November, on D yard, we had raw sewage erupt from the drain on 3 pod. I saw residents picking their way around the feces near their doors. We counted 2-1/2 hours later 'til there was a response. Did we get men in HazMat suits? Noooo, we got other inmates cleaning...
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