Medical Care in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice

After sustaining a hernia in early March 2006, it was not until early October that same year that my trip through the medical system in TDCJ took place. At about 1 a.m., a guard came to my cell and told me to get my things together. I was ready within an hour, with 4 bags plus the little bundle I planned to take with me on the bus (or "chain" as it is known). I opted to go to breakfast, and then around 4 a.m. I managed to get a little cart to carry my bags to the outgoing chain room, which is just a chain fenced-off area in the middle of the barber shop. Once there, myself and four others also going to Galveston, proceeded to wait another full 4 ½ hours till the property officers came to inventory our stuff.

I really didn't mind the wait because I knew only too well how my little inventory session would go. And how right I was. As the two property officers entered the cage they immediately pounced on myself and another inmate who had almost as many books in his possession. "Oh, y'all will have to get rid of the majority of those books," one officer pronounced. The other being just as belligerent said, "We run a property room, not a library". I couldn't resist a little chuckle, but I don't think he heard me. Before it was all over I had transferred all my books, 2 storage folders, fan, hot pot, hygiene items that they would not let me take on the bus, T shirt and gym shorts (which they did let me take, oddly enough), jacket, blanket and sheets, and 3 or 4 soups that I had left. I had not been to store for almost 2 weeks prior to that so my supplies were very low. I put all that into 4 more bags, tagged them, and took them away to the property room. All I had left in my possession for the trip was my shower shoes, toothbrush and toothpaste, and deodorant. That was it, no envelopes, paper, stamps, picture of my family, bible, books, nada! I was seething, but I managed to calm down by the time we were escorted out to the waiting area for the bus which wasn't there yet. The guards were still making comments about why I and the other inmate had all the books, saying we kept them just to make ourselves look smarter.

Fortunately these two officers stayed at our unit as we rode off towards our next destination, which turned out to be Byrd unit in Huntsville. Being as it was Friday morning and the weekend was just ahead, the powers that be had scheduled us to stay over the weekend at Byrd. I had been there the previous summer in the old buildings and it had been nasty. This time we were housed on the blocks on the opposite end of the prison, and what a difference. Clean, new, but still cages. The weekend was spent pretty much in introspection as I had no reading material except a couple of small religious pamphlets that were given to me by an SSI (an inmate janitor) on the wing. I read them in about an hour, and that was reading real, real slowly! So soon I was reading the writing on the walls, literally. And to top that off, my view of outside was the red brick wall of the building across a small strip of grass. The whole three days I was at Byrd, I saw one starling in the grass for maybe one very quick minute. But the flip side was that Byrd was the unit with the good food so I relished mealtimes more than anything. I had no cellie while at Byrd so I really explored my thoughts and did a fair bit of talking to God.

Monday morning, about 24 of us that were being housed at Byrd from all over the southern region were put on a bus for Glaveston. Ah, finally something I could enjoy, except it was still dark, about 5.30am, and it wouldn't really be light for a good hour and a half. So I really couldn't see everything there was to see, except an impression of the many auto dealers north and south of Houston. I did see downtown Houston as we drove by it. The buildings were lit up and very tall, but because of the cage that covers all the bus windows it wasn't possible to see the skyline until we were right beside it. Houston is very large, much larger than Dallas. We also passed the giant statue of Sam Houston all lit up beside the highway between Huntsville and Houston.

Once near the Gulf of Mexico I could smell the briny aroma of the sea and as we crossed a very flat bridge onto the actual island of Galveston I could barely make out the water and the lights shining off a few boats. But it wasn't until we were actually inside the first of about 5 holding rooms in the hospital that I had a chance to see the ocean being lit by the dawn. Oh it always makes my sense of being just about explode! I love to see the endless blue and even the oil drilling rigs which are on the horizon make me feel that one of these days I'll be out of this prison system, or at least the walls themselves. I saw gulls and shrimp boats, tugboats and barges. All familiar but always giving me a sense of freedom. But this all ceased abruptly as the bosses (in high numbers) herded us into the next holding room, then the next and the next.

A little further into the interior and we had no window view at all. This went on for probably 2 hours, during which they did provide us with a turkey sandwich, a cheese sandwich, one pint of milk and a half cup of cranberry juice. Finally we began seeing the initial triage workers as they weighed us (I was down about 9lbs since I got the hernia). Also they checked our vital signs; blood pressure, heart beat, lungs etc. Then a series of very young (I thought)intern doctors examined me, one male, who consulted with a female surgeon and nurse. They could easily have been my children age-wise. They decide to operate on me the next day in the 2^nd slot which was the afternoon.

After sitting back in the waiting room for another hour easily, maybe even 2 hours, I was called back into the triage area to speak with a gentleman via video/satellite called "Telemed". He asked if I'd prefer epidural block or going to sleep anaesthetic. I said going to sleep. Well, he proceeded to give me the side effect upon waking, plus he said that when they remove the breathing tube from my throat there was a possibility of breaking or chipping of my teeth. Then myself and 4 other guys I'd met were ready to be placed in our rooms. All but one of us had hernias; the other guy had small tumors in his throat or thyroid gland. It turned out that he was the only one to get his surgery that go round, but I'm getting ahead of myself. The rooms were nice, they are 2-people rooms but they had three of us in one room and there was still enough space. My bed was right next to the window looking out onto the north east tip of the island so I had this awesome view. The one good thing about the whole trip! The tumor guy and one of the hernias were not scheduled for surgery for a couple more days, so they were allowed to eat the meal that was brought soon after our being admitted to the room. But not me, oh no, I wasn't to eat anything after midnight or anything then either.

I didn't eat then, or all of the next day because no one knew if my surgery would proceed due to some emergency that had taken priority. So Tuesday was a blur. I watched movies on TV and pretended not to be hungry. Then Wednesday came and after not getting breakfast again and then right before lunch was to be served, they came to me with my prison whites and said I was leaving. Well I came unglued! I first demanded a meal and then an explanation for why I wasn't getting operated on. I got the meal (which I had to eat after I'd dressed and been put in the first of three holding cells on the way out). The only explanation I got then was the room was needed for an emergency accident and it took longer than my surgery would have done. Hence, instead of rescheduling all upcoming surgeries, they cancelled all til further notice mine and the other hernias.

I wished the other guys well, and about 5 hours later I boarded a very cramped bus heading north and soon arrived at Estelle unit back in Huntsville. I was really in the dark; I didn't know if I would stay there til the rescheduled surgery or what. It was Wednesday and I couldn't figure why I hadn't gone back to my original unit. No one would tell me anything, it was all top security. I figured they already had the seating assignments on the chain bus and had to leave me at Estelle until the amount of days had elapsed had my surgery taken place and I had recovered at Estelle the allotted 7 or 8 days post-surgery. Regardless, I was there and got a lay-in pass to report to the Infirmary the next day. So on Thursday I awake and at approximately 10am I go to the Medical door down the hall and see a nice lady who told me that my (then) girlfriend has been waiting info on me. I informed her that it was actually my fiancee and I signed the permission form allowing them to give out information on my condition. I was happy that my fiancee knew where I was, but sad that I hadn't been able to speak to her. This medical lady, after hearing why I was there with no surgery under my belt went to check with Galveston to see what was going on. She returned and said that the reschedule date hadn't been made yet but that she would make a note on her calendar to check again with the hospital over the next week. I thought that was very nice of her and very unusual in this system.

I really expected to catch the chain bus back to my own unit early the next morning, but no, I got to spend an all bills paid weekend at spectacularly sunny Estelle unit. Yes I'm being sarcastic, as Estelle is a very dingy, almost nasty facility which, being that it's a medical unit, should be clean. So much for should-bes. They served breakfast in the cells, but the food isn't even good for medicinal purposes. I hate that my tales of my experiences are so negative, but even though I look for the best in a situation, sometimes it's impossible to dredge up a good point about life in TDCJ.

Finally the following Tuesday at about 12.30am, the guard made his rounds and informed several guys that they were on the south-bound chain bus and right afterwards another guard came to my cell and said, "you're on the chain north at 5.15am". I was torn between happy to get to leave there and head back to where I could contact my family again, and sad because I had hoped the hospital would call me back in a day or so. Needless to say, the chain ride was as uncomfortable as every other time. Hernias only compound the discomfort, and since this bus carried other inmates from other units we stopped at each and every one of those units in that area. Once we arrived at my own unit, four of us got off the bus, had our handcuffs removed and waited while the property officers handed over a couple of inmates to the bus guards. Then we went inside and went to the property room, got our stuff and were given our housing locations.

Two days later I was on the road again, heading back to Byrd unit and going through the same procedures as I've outlined above for the second time. I arrived at Galveston on the Monday, with my surgery scheduled for the morning of Friday of the same week. So at least I got to eat pretty tasty food and look at the ocean, boats, seagulls and pelicans for a few days. I went into surgery about 11am on the Friday, which they considered to be "early". They say my surgery went without a hitch, but they weren't the ones being cut!They must have clamped me well because I was bruised purple. The incision was about 2 ½ inches, actually bigger than I'd expected. It's true what they say about when you go under the anaesthetic and then wake up later and don't register any time lost. I just knew I was in a different room. But it hurt, boy did it hurt! I asked immediately for a shot of something which they did give me, but they were hesitant because they were trying to get me to the point where they could transport me as quickly as possible. They were quite efficient from this point onwards. I was finally moved to a room where I was allowed to sleep for a little over an hour, and then was awakened for some cracker and juice. Those I eat and then had to use the bathroom, but that proved too difficult. I tried again a while later and succeeded, so the staff removed the IV and brought me a proper meal. It looked and smelled good; fried fish, potatoes, corn and pumpkin pie with whipped cream on top. I only managed to eat about half, but I really enjoyed it. So, about 2 ½ hours after waking up from surgery, I was told to get dressed and soon after I walked out of the room and went out to the holding cells on a lower floor to await tge call for the chain bus back to Estelle again. I was literally having trouble standing from the pain and discomfort, but there was no wheelchair offered. At last I had the soft seat of the bouncing bus to look forward to (more sarcasm).

Once down in the holding area of the garage where the outgoing procedures take place, the routine began again; handcuffs and/or leg irons, ID verification, return of property. But not mine! I only had shower shoes, toothpaste and toothbrush, but they still managed to misplace them. I was livid and wanted to say so, but I just stood there in line waiting for the guards to find my things. Then I was placed on the bus next to an extremely large fellow who complained loudly about all the empty seats that the front of the bus that they weren't using. I was really lucky he was being so vocal, because the guards came and unhandcuffed us and shifted inmates around so that I ended up in my own seat and had a bearable journey after all.

I stayed at Estelle for a further 5 uneventful days before being chained back to my own unit to continue my recovery and have the staples removed.