Lockdowns and Medical at JCCC

Lately Missouri Prison Reform has received an overwhelming number of complaints regarding extremely long lockdown times at Jefferson City Correctional Center due to incorrect facility “counts”. Sometimes these counts are taking hours to be corrected. We have also received an increase in medical complaints in the last year. Below is an email we received from an individual who’s currently incarcerated at Jefferson City Correction Center (JCCC) regarding both of these issues. This is being shared with his permission.

“They are consistently locking the prison down for long periods, Recently the staff claimed count was wrong for six hours, The counts are always delayed, These delay tactics interfere with medical appointments, Law library, Religious callouts, Legal phone calls, as well as recreation, For example this institution was so short on staff that we were not released for work until 9am, Then they counted at noon, count was not cleared until 1:20 So there are serious problems with count! But it goes deeper than that! I just happened to have a doctors appointment, Both housing unit officers told me all medical was cancelled? So I started going back to work and two guys I know who also had doctor appointments were headed to medical? So I went to my appointment, I asked to different nurses if medical was cancelled today, Both said Nope! So I asked them both where are all the other inmates? Both nurses were wondering where the inmates were also? Officers do not have the authority to cancel medical appointments, but that’s what is going on!…..Our emails are being held in the institution for four or five days before being downloaded to be sent out of the institution, This happens with mail all the time, These are all the things were dealing with, REMEMBER we no longer have sick call, we put our medical services request in a black box, we may get lucky and get a medical appointment to see a nurse two or three weeks later, then they put you in to see the doctor which then takes four to six weeks to get that appointment, But now officers are telling inmates medical is cancelled when its not, Those inmates who did not show up for there appointment will be considered a no show!”

Sent at a later date…

“So, Remember what I wrote you about how officers had cancelled medical appointments without the authority to do so, Well today everyone received an email informing them that they must attend all appointment’s or they will receive a conduct violation, I wonder why there so serious about individuals attending there appointments all of the sudden,,,,