When the prisoners stand back and take a good look at the Greensville Medical Department, we can see their attempts to cut the cost of prisoner care. Prisoners submit medical requests to be seen, and it takes weeks, sometimes months, to get an appointment. That’s if you even get a response back.
I can recall catching a cold and going to the pill window, attempting to get something for my cold. I was denied. I was instructed to put in for a sick call, which took 2 or more weeks before I was called to medical. By the time I was seen, my cold had cleared up.
In 2024, I went to Greensville Medical 4 times in one day for stomach pains. I was sent back to the building three times on claims that I would be scheduled for a sick call. That night, the pain had me lying on the floor crying. I felt like I was going to die. I was finally taken out to Bon Secours, where I was diagnosed as suffering from a sigmoid volvulus. My intestines were twisted, blocking anything from passing through them. I underwent 2 major surgeries, where the blood supply was cut off within my intestines. Where doctors had to remove 2-3 feet of my intestines, and I was hospitalized for 12 days, recovering.
I was returned to Greensville with a medical substitute for all of my pain meds and was given Tylenol, and that took 2-3 days before they even started giving me my medication. During my 12-day stay in the hospital, the doctors also diagnosed me with a severe case of sleep apnea. It took more than 6 months for the prison to get me in for the sleep study, because they don’t accept diagnoses from hospital doctors. They wanted a second opinion that would possibly deny the hospital doctors’ diagnosis. Plus, it’s an attempt to prolong providing the prisoner care altogether.
I was allowed to purchase a fan for my cell at the last institution I was at, to help circulate the humidity inside the cell. When I arrived at Greensville, the property staff (Ms. Adams) confiscated it even though it was authorized under the grandfather clause. Now, after a year has passed, Greensville hasn’t returned my fan, nor have they provided me with a CPAP machine to assist me with my breathing during sleep.
I have all kinds of underlying medical conditions, which include high blood pressure, prediabetes, etc. It takes an act of Congress to get anything done. The Virginia Department of Corrections reclaimed its medical care from the private contractors that had it. Now, after a couple of years, VA DOC is attempting to put all the prisoners on Medicaid. For what? and why? It’s obvious to subside the medical cost. The prisoners’ medical care is cutting into their profits. Prison is not based on punishing prisoners for their crimes. Prison is all about “the money” (40k) per prisoner.
We are punished for being the subjects. Our poor medical care, nutrition, and living conditions are based on maximizing profits. Taxpayers are paying $1.5 billion a year for what? What is this money being spent on, because the department of corruption has been said, screw rehabilitation. Rehabilitation costs money, screw medical treatment that costs money. I’m concerned because who’s really accountable for appropriating these tax dollars? Because I don’t see it, this might be one of Virginia’s biggest scams. They’re getting rich while we’re dying.
Submitted by GCC Inmate
Until the next time,
Share Life, Be Life, Love Life, & Live Life
