The following message was sent to Missouri Prison Reform from a current resident at Jefferson City Correctional Center regarding the medical staff at the institution.
Hello, My name is Kevin Warren and I am a inmate at JCCC, I have been incarcerated for the past 31 years at various level 5 institutions. I recently learned that a recent email or article was posted on your blog concerning the medical staff at this institution. I have been employed as a porter in the medical building for the past 3 years off and on, I have witness nurse’s work 15, 16 and sometimes even 24 hour’s shifts to ensure that we as inmates receive medical care, I have witnessed with my own eye’s nurse’s refusing to leave and go home after they were directed by their own administrative staff because it would have left us (inmates)with no one to provide medical care especially in the case of a real emergency. I have witnessed nurse’s and other medical staff literally save other men life’s, whether of was preform life saving CPR or just getting someone the medical care they needed by emergency service’s. There has not been a Health Service Administrator at this institution for at least 6 month’s if not longer, there has not been a consistent Director of Nursing for even longer, there is a very shortage of nurse’s who are working multiple job’s and hour’s to ensure that we as inmates receive medical care, the same can also be said concerning mental health nurse’s and doctor’s! Also one of the biggest problem’s is that Centurion has people who are deciding how to address our medical needs but they are NOT the nurse’s and doctor’s we are seeing about our medical problems! The problem I have witnessed myself is not with the nurse’s or doctor’s at this institution, the problem is with the company (Centurion) that has the medical contract at this institution, they do not provide administrative staff, they do not provide enough nurse’s, doctor’s or mental health staff to adequately provide quality medical care for a institution with the large number of inmate that are presently house at JCCC. I am not saying that men here don’t have a right to feel that they are receiving below adequate medical care, I am just saying witnessing it with my own two eye’s the nurse’s and doctor’s inside this medical unit isn’t the problem the problem is (Centurion) isn’t providing them with all the necessary staffing and equipment they need to successfully operate this medical facility at a high quality rate.
Submitted by,
Kevin Warren
My wife works there as a nurse. Lately she is working 15 to 16 hour shifts when she is contracted to work 13. I’m not sure how this is legal. And then to ask her to drive home, sleep for four or five hours and do it over again. This is asking for malpractice to happen. It never fails for it to happen on a Friday or Saturday night that she’s driving home after 12am. I’m constantly worried that she’s going to get into an accident with a drunk driver or run off the road because she’s wore out. Some days she’s lucky to get a 15 minute break and goes without lunch. She also tells me that because of the short staffing , some prisoners are taking medication on expired scripts because there is no one available to update them. I didn’t leave my name or a real email address because she is worried about reprisal. She really hopes for changes and a better working environment.