Families of SOs Community Group
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i know that from time to time there have been postings, comments and complaints about prison health care and other problems. but i have some questions and a few concerns, maybe someone can answer them? or maybe a couple of them?
ya'll know that kelly is in prison for CP. i know from what i have read from the postings here, that as far as i can tell, (?) that i am the only one with a female loved one in prison for a sex crime. if i'm wrong and there is someone else who has a daughter, loved one or friend in prison please speak up.
are these things problematic in all fed prisons or is it just this one???? this prison is suppose to be their newest and their shining star.
*
i know that this is an old article, but just a some info about Aliceville...
my daughter is an inmate at Aliceville. some of the few things that she has told me about being a prisoner there are shameful!
with 1800 inmates there is 1 full time doctor, 1 one visiting doctor and 1 dentist.
as a women's prison? it is a joke, there is NO Gynecologist on staff at all. and there is no where near by if a problem comes up. she had a problem and was transported to Birmingham. while there she had to have 3 armed guards in attendance. one even had to stand in the shower of the bathroom while she used the toilet. and no they were not female guards. when she got back to the prison. the prison doctor gave her a hard time about the Birmingham doctors prescriptions and medical recommendations. the other doctor directed that my daughter was in dire need of a follow up visit. the prison doctor has since then recinded the 2nd visit and refuses to refill the script that the other doctor said was required to keep my daughter's problem under control. this is a continuing medical problem. not a one time deal.
the nurses and or pharmacy tech take it upon themselves to rewrite prescriptions, completely refuse or revoke them.
call outs for a medical concern or problem are also a problem. she puts in a request for med and goes on a waiting list. if they call her in the 'pod' for med if she's at work, she's out of luck and misses the call out. she then has to put in another request and wait again.
they are constantly running out of toilet paper. she has said that there have been times that she, her cellmate and others in the pod have had to resort to using their washcloths to wipe with when they go P. they save the toilet paper for when they have to poo.
in her last letter she said that she had 1 tampon and 2 pads left and was told by a guard that they had no more to pass out. and that it is hard to find them in the commissary as they run out of them. not to even mention all the other stuff that she said that the commissary is constantly out of, ie. pens, tablets, envelops, etc. the necessities.
the hobby and educational classes are few and limited to 20 inmates per class. most classes are held once a week, a few are twice a week.
in all honesty we were extremely naive about all that her prison sentence would entail. we were under the misunderstanding that federal prisons that are run by the feds and not privately, were run better than this!
ya'll know that kelly is in prison for CP. i know from what i have read from the postings here, that as far as i can tell, (?) that i am the only one with a female loved one in prison for a sex crime. if i'm wrong and there is someone else who has a daughter, loved one or friend in prison please speak up.
are these things problematic in all fed prisons or is it just this one???? this prison is suppose to be their newest and their shining star.
*
i know that this is an old article, but just a some info about Aliceville...
my daughter is an inmate at Aliceville. some of the few things that she has told me about being a prisoner there are shameful!
with 1800 inmates there is 1 full time doctor, 1 one visiting doctor and 1 dentist.
as a women's prison? it is a joke, there is NO Gynecologist on staff at all. and there is no where near by if a problem comes up. she had a problem and was transported to Birmingham. while there she had to have 3 armed guards in attendance. one even had to stand in the shower of the bathroom while she used the toilet. and no they were not female guards. when she got back to the prison. the prison doctor gave her a hard time about the Birmingham doctors prescriptions and medical recommendations. the other doctor directed that my daughter was in dire need of a follow up visit. the prison doctor has since then recinded the 2nd visit and refuses to refill the script that the other doctor said was required to keep my daughter's problem under control. this is a continuing medical problem. not a one time deal.
the nurses and or pharmacy tech take it upon themselves to rewrite prescriptions, completely refuse or revoke them.
call outs for a medical concern or problem are also a problem. she puts in a request for med and goes on a waiting list. if they call her in the 'pod' for med if she's at work, she's out of luck and misses the call out. she then has to put in another request and wait again.
they are constantly running out of toilet paper. she has said that there have been times that she, her cellmate and others in the pod have had to resort to using their washcloths to wipe with when they go P. they save the toilet paper for when they have to poo.
in her last letter she said that she had 1 tampon and 2 pads left and was told by a guard that they had no more to pass out. and that it is hard to find them in the commissary as they run out of them. not to even mention all the other stuff that she said that the commissary is constantly out of, ie. pens, tablets, envelops, etc. the necessities.
the hobby and educational classes are few and limited to 20 inmates per class. most classes are held once a week, a few are twice a week.
in all honesty we were extremely naive about all that her prison sentence would entail. we were under the misunderstanding that federal prisons that are run by the feds and not privately, were run better than this!
The bottom line is that they just don't care. It is difficult for decent folks to imagine someone being so uncaring toward other human beings, but that is what you see in prison.
I had a cellmate who had a sister in jail. The entire family was caught in a methamphetamine situation and she went to prison.
He told me that in the women's prisons they do not fight like you see in the men's prisons. Rather, the ladies focus more on relationships. Men's prisons have too much testosterone floating around in the air with everyone trying to prove to everyone else how tough they are. They do not do that so much in a woman's prison.
As far as the personal hygiene supplies, this does not surprise me.
Prisons will go as far as they think they can without a lawsuit or some bad publicity in the media. I actually think they would just as soon not even feed the inmates, but they do to avoid a lawsuit.
Then when someone keeps hounding them for such things as essential supplies such as toilet paper and women's supplies, they will then finally do what is right----until the next time. This cycle is repeated time and time again in prison.
This, unfortunately, is the nature of prison. It is no wonder why so many inmates come out of prison with bad attitudes and wanting to take that anger out on society.
As far as how female sex offenders are treated by the other inmates, I don't think they get beaten up or any physical violence is directed toward them, but I know they will be shunned by many of their fellow inmates.
rewdiazepam
the rest of it is simply shameful and pitiful.
dixon, yeah there are many, many areas where the US falls flat on it's face. they see fit and feel they have the right to dictate and tell other countries how to conduct themselves but can't be bothered to follow their own advice....
Something if/when he comes home.
Try to do some research to find out if there is an attorney that represent the inmates. Have Kelly contact thrm with her list of grievances. But as it has been stated before, only file a grievence on important issues (like health care). CA was mandated to reduce the prison population due to lack of health care - it was unconstitutional that they had low to no health care. Have her check with the other inmates to see if they too have an issue, if so, they all need to file a class action suite.
it's the prison's supply and ability to supply actual necessary needs. and of course the medical problems.
As far as general conditions go, there is not much (if anything) you or I could do. I do know a lawyer here that brought a class action lawsuit against a county holding center because of the extremely bad conditions, she won and changes were made. That holding center is still under a microscope.
"Over the top, huh?"
I tell you what is over the top. Over the top is placing a young man who has some serious medical problems in prison and not allowing him his meds for proper medical treatment.
THAT'S what's over the top.
If any of the mothers, wives, or family member on this board have a loved one incarcerated and he is not receiving the proper medical care, call them.
And you will probably have to call several times and hound them to death to get them to provide the medical care you loved one NEEDS and DESERVES but it has to be done. Yes, I said "deserves."
rewdiazepam
Echo, I was just as you are now, the last thing I wanted to do was piss off the people who literally held my sons well being in the palm of their hands, especially with him being so far away (it's not like I could hop in the care and drive there to check on him). I live in New York State, my son is currently in Montana. But ever since I sent that email and they know that I am not afraid to get involved in his medical care, if he has a medical issue it gets taken care of.
Mama always used to say "it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease", you just have to be careful of why you squeak and who you squeak to. The only real way to change over all conditions in a prison is a lawsuit, but medical issues are medical issues, not prison issues.
There are issues under the umbrella that I all "prison politics." Prison politics are issues within the prison system that the inmate must fix himself. Some of those things are, the food, having no a/c in the summer, the visits, commissary, and phone calls. Yes, these are important to an inmate but complaining about them will usually do no good.
But a complaint about medical issues is NOT prison politics. In fact, an access to adequate medical care is not really a prison issue---it is HUMAN RIGHTS issue, as health care is essential.
Lousy food, no a/c in the summer, visits, commissary, and telephone privileges are not essential for the well being of the inmate; adequate medical are is.
Nobody in their right mind would take issue with the family calling about an inmate's health problem. You are not normally risking any retaliation against your son and daughter if you call and remind them about his medical needs.
You need to understand this----The prison system does not care one bit about the welfare of the inmate, but one thing they hate is civil lawsuits filed against them for negligence when it comes to taking care of an inmate.
Hope this sheds some light on prison issues and when the family needs to step in.
rewdiazepam
Echo, you have every right to make sure your daughter gets the medical care she needs.
ThoughtAsWeak, your husband has the right to medical care, please read Rews post above, he is right, they could care less about our loved ones, but they do care about having to defend themselves against lawsuits. That is why my threat to "sue if anything happened to my son due to the lack of needed medical care" got their attention and got results.