It Happens More Than It’s Talked About

By T King
Coeffield Unit, Texas
April 2021

First, let me say Thank you so much, you guys are Awesome for what you do for us locked away.

I’m writing to get your take on an issue that happens more than it is talked about.

My name is T. King & I’m a lifer on the Coffield unit in Texas. The largest & one of the oldest joints in the Lone Star State. Being a maximum-security unit, movement is restricted, understandably, so you’re either locked in your cell or the day room & now during COVID-19 it’s 2 hours instead of 1 hour at a time. Sometimes you can get stuck in there 3-5 hours depending on if the count clears in time.

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Living with a Mental Illness

By Russell Auguillard
From PHN Issue 54, Fall 2023

Living with a mental illness often requires a person to create a schedule of activities, groups and therapy. Where you are, you can start now, with groups, therapy and approved programs that are operating through your prison or facilities. One common mental illness a person can be affected by and go through, but not even know that they have it, is antisocial personality disorder. One place they find themselves without even being conscious of it is in the prison system as first, second, or multiple-time offenders. You can do something about it starting today, by first beginning to manage your thoughts, then your life.

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Recognizing LONG COVID

By Kirby Sokolow
From PHN Issue 53, Summer 2023

Three years have passed since the World Health Organization first declared COVID-19 a pandemic. However, people worldwide continue to suffer from this novel coronavirus’ devastating effects. Among them are an estimated 65 million people with symptoms of Long COVID.

Long COVID—also called post-COVID syndrome or post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection—is when someone keeps having COVID-19 symptoms or gets new symptoms that last weeks, months, or years after they get COVID. Anyone infected with COVID-19 can develop Long COVID, even vaccinated folks and people whose initial symptoms were mild. However, vaccination does lower your risk of both getting COVID and developing long COVID.

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Prisoners Surviving Mental Illness

By Wayne Thomas
From PHN Issue 52, Spring 2023

There is an increasing restriction of constitutional rights and other safeguards on people with mental illness in prison. The punishment of individuals with psychiatric problems in prisons might affect the perception of people impacted by mass incarceration.

We are troubled by the punishing of people who suffer from mental and emotional disorders, who are often forced to take antipsychotic drugs during the trial or pretrial setting. There are a large number of instances in prisons and courthouses when a person with mental illness is forced to take medications against their will. The person is incapacitated by being put in a medication-induced stupor and then removed to a courtroom where they are sentenced to a term of incarceration. This is a process that maintains physical control over the mentally ill persons, forced by law to subject themselves to take antipsychotic medications when released. Often they are threatened with the possibility of return to confinement—to ensure medication adherence for formerly incarcerated people who are categorized as mentally ill.

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Medications for OPIOID USE DISORDER

By Hannah Calvelli and Dan Lockwood
From PHN Issue 52, Spring 2023

Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) is a term used by addiction and medical professionals when referring to the three medications (buprenorphine, naltrexone, and methadone) that are approved by the FDA for the treatment of opioid use disorder. You may have heard of Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), which is a similar term that refers to the use of FDA approved medications for both alcohol use disorder and opioid use disorder. The difference between MOUD and MAT is that MAT is part of a larger treatment and recovery plan that includes counseling and behavioral therapy, whereas MOUD is treatment with medications only.

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An Open Letter to the INCARCERATED OF PENNSYLVANIA

By Anonymous
From PHN Issue 51, Winter 2023

It has been more than a year since the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections vaccinated its inmate population. Mask mandates have been lifted. The unvaccinated have been allowed off quarantine and spread throughout general population. And yet here we are, another year gone, and the pandemic restrictions limiting activity and quality of life within the prisons remain. The PA DOC has successfully used a deadly pandemic as a smoke screen to institute many of the wide-ranging and destructive restrictions it’s wanted all along.

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Urge Surfing

By Ms. Gege
From PHN Issue 51, Winter 2023

Urge Surfing is a technique for managing your unwanted behaviors. Rather than giving in to an urge, you will ride it out like a surfer rides a wave. After a short time, the urge will pass on its own. This technique can be used to stop or reduce any unwanted behaviors or habits, including emotional reactions such as “blowing up” when angry, overeating, and other unwanted behaviors.

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Convict Chronicles: NO REGRETS

By Leo Cardez
From PHN Issue 50, Summer/Fall 2022

Regret runs through everything, and no man exists as he once was. People in custody have an intimate relationship with regret – left to face the suffering and damage we have left in our wake. It is as if we are stuck in a barrel at the bottom of the ocean with no options – there is nothing worse.

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The “BIG THREE” and Depression

By Ethan Macks
From PHN Issue 50, Summer/Fall 2022

Do you ever feel like you just don’t want to wake up and face the day? Do you feel unmotivated and restless? In small amounts, this is normal for most people, but if you find yourself experiencing this almost every day coupled with self-defeating thoughts and a feeling that overall things are just not worthwhile, you may be seeing the early signs of something I am all too familiar with. Depression is widespread in prison, and you may be thinking to yourself, “What is there to look forward to in the penitentiary?” Unfortunately, that is exactly the problem. Prison breeds emotions like anger, sadness, and despair. On top of all the negativity that goes on, there are countless reminders of what’s going on in the outside world. Some people handle these feelings better than others, but I believe that most of you who are reading this can relate. I feel that with the right tools, you can recognize a low mood and remedy this issue before you fall into a very dark place. An isolated mind is your own worst enemy.

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Saving Your Mind: Mental Health in the Age of COVID

By Leo Cardez
November 1, 2020
Illinois Department of Corrections

“This is some crazy ass shit; and I thought I’d seen it all after twenty years in the joint.” Murder*, my COVID wing co-worker, lamented while shaking his head. We were dragging yet another fellow inmate to the hospital wing of our prison. Murder is a seasoned con from the streets of Chicago’s South side, but I swear I saw a tear in his eye.

There were four of us glorified janitors working in the makeshift quarantine wing of our prison. Besides cleaning, we were tasked with moving and caring for sick (even dead) inmates. At the peak of our coronavirus outbreak, we worked seven days a week double shifts, sweating through our full PPE—too busy to even stop and eat. It was only at the end of the day, during my shower, that I would finally have a moment to catch my breath. Sometimes I would break down, hiding my tears as the warm water washed over me. My co-workers and I suffered everything from nightmares to migraines. We lost and gained weight at an alarming rate. We slept sporadically and were often depressed or angry. Double D, my morning co-worker, said it best, “We are never going to be the same after this… you cannot unsee or undo this type of damage.”

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