The new policies implemented in September 2007 are euphemistically called “medications schedule change.” They really are a whole-sale denial of meds. It happened right in the middle of a rash of suicides and suicide attempts. They clearly did not care about the impact it would create. The first week our meds were cut there were over 600 602s filed. I was not able to participate then, because when they cut my meds I felt awful. I could not think.
I have submitted a 602 since, though. I won twice previously to be on the meds I was on. This time, they claimed the 602 was submitted on the wrong form, and then they claimed it was submitted on the wrong grounds, that my chronic depression is not covered under ADA, when many previous claims under ADA were accepted.
In the 2 months since they cut our meds I have been on 5 different anti-depressants, which are supposed to replace the one that worked for me for 3 and 1/2 years. All had horrific side effects. I had to be have emergency care just last week, because of the side effects of the latest one they tried.
The wholesale change of medications, which means also a lack of proper treatment for those who used to have it, is having a huge impact on our already overcrowded conditions. There are more nervous breakdowns, more fights between prisoners, more suicide attempts. There is also a more active black market to buy and sell the medications. People are desperate to get something that might work for them.
Robert Sillen’s intention for the expansion of mental health care is being skewed and abused by CDC, at least in this facility. Instead of expanding mental health, they are cutting it back. Those practices that were judged ineffective by Sillen’s research are being eliminated, but no effective ones are being implemented. It seems that the money that is supposed to be spent on mental health is being funneled elsewhere.
Meanwhile we have even more women who clearly do not belong here. They should be hospitalized, should be given help. They cannot be accommodated here. They need medical help, not to be incarcerated. Their presence here does not do them any good and is disruptive to all others here.
Something needs to be done. We need more mental health professionals to treat the women here, we need up-to-date meds available, and we need better screening of who should be here in the first place.
It’s Your Health – Medications schedule change
