I arrived at Waseca, my first prison, in July. I am in C Unit, Range 9 (of 13 ranges). Other women say C Unit is the worst. The ranges are open, which means that 12 bunkbeds and 24 lockers are shoved into a room no bigger than a kindergarten classroom. On the second day I was here, I went to pill line after breakfast to get my meds. When they only gave me one pill (Zoloft), I was told that to get my other three meds, I had to talk to a doctor at a “chronic care appointment.” (I was also supposed to get Gabapentin for a pinched nerve, Hydroxyzine for anxiety and a stool softener.) Or go to sick call. I asked how long that would take, and was told, “I don’t know. Watch the callouts” (appointment list).
When you want to go to sick call here, you need to be in line for the first move of the day (6 a.m.) Even that early, you are still not first. You have to wait in line, outside. Pill line is outside, at all times of the year, no matter what the weather (and this is Minnesota!). Waseca charges $2 to go to sick call to talk to someone. Do you know how many hours an inmate must work to make $2? Sixteen and a half, at 12 cents an hour!
Finally, at 6:30 a.m., they let you in, where you then wait to be seen. Since there are always 20 or 30 others waiting, you’re lucky to be seen by 10 a.m. And by “seen,” I mean by an RN or LPN. All they can do is document your vitals and record your symptoms. Then say, “You will be put on a callout to be seen by a provider.” I have been to sick call multiple times since July. As of today, Nov. 8, I’ve never been seen by a provider. And I still don’t have the meds I’m supposed to have!
Rehabilitation is supposed to “restore to a state of health.” There are many good programs here, but actually participating is nearly impossible. The waiting lists are so long. There are no daily AA or NA meetings. No weekly Celebrate Recovery. The county jails I’ve been in offered all three of those programs. Waseca things making you work is rehabilitation, like in the kitchen, cleaning the bathrooms or doing the laundry. But those are things we do at home anyway. RDAP is offered, but you have to be recommended by your judge and your unit team. I have little hope of getting in.
And then there is the amount of violence here. In the 100-something days I’ve been here, I’ve seen some ugly situations. I’d never heard of a lock-in-sock used as a weapon, and boy does it cause damage. It took over a month for the black and blue on one woman’s face to fade. And then another couple of weeks for the yellow. It blows my mind how the COs turn a blind eye to all the black-and-blue faces.
I have seen girls jump other girls three on one. And I’ve never seen racism like this in my life. Here, the Blacks HATE the white women. Every day, it’s “white bitch” this and “white bitch” that. And everything here is a competition: looks, clothes,l jobs and color. I am constantly afraid of the repercussions. And collective punishment is the norm. An example occurred on September 4, when Warden Siegel decided to lock down the compound to get the K2 under control. Several inmates went to the hospital. The officers were Narcaning inmates who were unresponsive. Anyone caught was sent to the SHU for 30 to 60 days. And those of us who don’t do drugs? We were locked down. The COs did a mass search unit by unit. It lasted three weeks. What did it accomplish? We lost pay, education hours and rec time. We had no way to relieve stress. Another time, when they found hooch in my unit, they shut down the TV room and ice machine for everyone.
When the Dublin lawyers or region comes, they shut everything down and they all wear suits. And at mainline, staff interacted with inmates like we actually mattered. It’s the only time I see that. But when inmates talked to the person from region, the captain stands there, listening and glowering. Normally, the warden and AWs stand at mainline during lunch at most three times a month. Electronic copouts are never answered and if you talk to staff, they pass the buck to someone else. You run in circles, never getting a direct answer.