Michigan Department of Corrections Has Grossly Inadequate Medical Care

One of the biggest problems in the Michigan prison system is the atrocious quality of the healthcare provided to the inmates. This problem is widely known by prisoners and their families, prison administration officials, and state lawmakers. Yet, despite lawsuits filed and won by prisoners for Constitutional violations of deliberate indifference, the state of Michigan continues to maintain their contract with this inadequate health care provider.

The examples I am aware of, and have personally experienced, regarding the inadequate care by healthcare staff are too numerous to count.

Just recently, for example, one prisoner I know ("Doug") who is healthy and in excellent shape went to see medical for severe inflammation of his sciatic nerve. This normally very active prisoner was in great pain and was having trouble sleeping and functioning normally. After taking his vital signs and hearing his complaint, medical staff instructed him to place a soap in a sock and put it under the foot of his mattress. Besides the obvious stupidity of this advice as a solution, a sock with a soap inside would be considered a weapon by custody staff and would result in a major misconduct ticket, and possibly a trip to segregation for dangerous contraband. No other solution was provided and Doug, over complaints at this advise, was instructed to leave. 

Every visit to see medical staff results in a five dollar co-pay, which although small, is sometimes half of a monthly paycheck at prisoner wages. Prison policy requires inmates to see nursing staff three times before being allowed to see the doctor (often a physician's assistant). This means that prisoners are either required to spend more than a month's wages just to see the doctor, or suffer through their medical problems without proper treatment. 

I realize that Michigan's corrections budget is already approaching two billion dollars, but failing to provide even close to adequate medical care to Michigan's prisoners is unacceptable. The United States Constitution protects even prisoners from deliberate indifference in medical care.

For Doug, the only (inadequate) solution for his pain was to do his own stretching exercises using stretches learned over the years from other prisoners and medical books in the library and to suffer through the pain. Needless to say, Doug did not put a soap in a sock at the foot of his bed.

Prisoner Dedication Leads to Education

The college program at Lakeland Correctional Facility offers inmate-led college-prep classes to other inmates, including several English and math classes, Introduction to Psychology, Study Skills, and several business classes. 

To run these classes effectively takes the commitment and dedication of a group of men who are willing to volunteer their time to help other men educate themselves. These men have developed the curriculum for each class, organized and maintained the materials, and facilitated and tutored the classes, all as volunteers. 

Each of these men bring their own strengths to make these classes a success. Gordon put in over a thousand hours developing the English class before he transferred to another facility. Scott brings his attention to detail in organizing copies of all the curriculum and handouts, and he developed and teaches most of the math classes. Then there are the Daves. Dave E. is humorous and a workhorse, helping Scott with the huge task of organizing curriculum and managing student lists. Dave M. is heavily tattooed with long hair. He's a biker type who is quiet and attentive. He's very helpful in several classes, grading papers and tutoring students, as well as helping with curriculum development. Dwight and Country co-facilitate the psychology class, and Dwight is one of our resident business facilitators. Anthony, another business facilitator, also facilitates one of our English classes with Destro, who is highly skilled in English rules. Don, Dave E., and Melvin D. facilitate the Study Skills class. Chris brings his long and deep experience in Fortune 500 companies to head up the small business class and advise on other business classes. Bruce, who helped to start the whole program, now advises and provides assistance wherever he's needed. I facilitate English and help with Intro to Psychology and the math classes in addition to tutoring for several subjects. 

Besides these, there are at least a dozen other men who tutor and assist in various ways. Part of the goal of what we do is to develop new leaders and facilitators as we prepare the men for the goal of taking actual college classes. Also essential to our success is the generosity of the Saint Peter Claver Prison Ministry who donated hundreds of textbooks to help us run classes. 

For many in prison, time is spent watching T.V., playing chess or cards, and generally wasting time. But for many men at this facility, educating themselves has become a valuable use of time through these college-prep classes, all because of the dedication of a small group of prisoners who care.

Preparing Michigan Prisoners for Productivity

I recently took a trip to the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center for tests. While there, I was amazed at how courteous, professional, and effective the staff was despite my handcuffs and accompanying guards. Truly, the U of M does a wonderful job preparing its students for the next phase of their lives: careers. As an enrolled student in an extended studies program, I was able to identify a number of employed management, customer service, and human resources concepts and qualities about which I have studied in pursuit of a business management degree. The most revealing part of this trip was the stark contrast between the setting of that campus and the setting of prison. The U of M is goal-focused and professional in their mission, while the Michigan Department of Corrections employs virtually no proven professional techniques, and in practice, the MDOC's goal appears to be simply to keep criminals isolated from society. Michigan's taxpayers may desire more meaningful value for their 2 billion dollars per year investment. If prisons were run more like colleges and prisoners were actually prepared, through education, jobs training, and modeling of professional conduct by employees, Michigan would benefit from the results: lower re-offense rates and productive members of society. (Guest post by prisoner Scott Wynne #247226)

Prison Friendships

Today I sat at lunch, referred to as chow time, with another inmate I haven't seen since we worked our gardens together this summer. I realized how insular we sometimes are as prisoners, even among ourselves. Prison gives a whole new meaning to the phrase "fair-weathered friend." 

Some friendships formed in prison are tenuous at best; I hadn't even realized I hadn't seen my gardening friend. Other friendships have greater meaning and the absence is felt when days go by between connections. These friendships involve intentional bids for connection through door-calls, or other methods of finding the missed person. 

Without cellphones to make a call or send a text, prisoners use the lost art of walking to the other person's residence and 'ringing the doorbell' (what we call giving a door call.) This bid for connection requires more effort than what is put out by most people in this instant message generation. 

More rarely, some friendships formed between prisoners extend beyond the space inside these fences and beyond the time of incarceration. These are lifelong friendships formed on the battlefield of prison and secured through shared joys and sorrows as experienced through the life of a prisoner. 

Prisoners are no different than free people. We need the connections of friendships. For many prisoners without outside connections friendships with other prisoners meet this basic need.

A New Year in Prison

Holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas are difficult for prisoners who are often reminded of memories of times past with family. We make the best of it; those who can afford to make a special cook-up, call family, and send handmade cards or gifts. But spirits are generally heavy in prison during the holidays. 

New Years is another story altogether. Perhaps it's the hope of a better year to come, a year closer to going home, or simply the symbolic death of the old and birth of the new. Whatever the case may be, all the doldrums of the holidays fall off in a single night as the hum of anticipation fills the air in each housing unit. Some of the units that house older prisoners are quiet enough to hear a cricket as the stroke of midnight is too late to stay awake for, but housing units with younger prisoners buzz with the electricity of laughing, singing (if you can call it that), and horsing around. Prisoners tune their T.V.s to coverage of Times Square and join the countdown in a chorus of boisterous voices: "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!"

There are no fireworks, no cowbells, and no midnight kisses. But a melody of banging on bed frames, whistles, and whooping shouts fill the air with an expression of hope in a place that desperately needs it. I'm woken up by the sounds, but I smile and think of those I love, silently wishing them a Happy New Year and fanning the flame of hope in my heart. Perhaps this will be the year of healing.