The following is a guest blog post, under the series “Rene Records”–Rene is currently incarcerated in a federal prison in Alabama. Please consider giving to her commissary fundraiser (funds are also used to support her reading group and fellow political prisoners). You can also support her boo here, as well as her co-defendant Cody, here. The best method of support for her other co-defendant, MJ, is to send donations to $JohnLungaho on CashApp.
August 14th: social media update (aliceville healthcare)
Reading Imperfect Victims in the Aliceville prison library when I came across this completely by coincidence—literally amidst people here talking about the absolutely abysmal healthcare (or complete lack thereof):
“At the Federal Correctional Institution in Aliceville, Alabama, three women died of medical neglect between 2018 – 2020. Hazel McGary waited for eight months to see a cardiologist. She experienced fatigue, was confined to a wheelchair and regularly fell out of bed. On March 18, 2019, McGary’s roommate found her on the floor and called staff, who took her away. McGary died that day of a blood clot that started in her leg and traveled to her heart.” (p. 122)
I can’t help but think of conversations I’ve overheard here where women talked about witnessing COs at the FCI kicking women who were experiencing seizures while yelling things like “get up, you’re just high” or “I know you’re just on drugs.”
Even one of the officers here talked about how shocked she was when she started working here—she described seeing people falling out of bed, stumbling around like zombies, or leaned up against the wall with their head down, and everyone (including other officers) just walking past them as if nothing was happening. She said that other prisoners would try to discourage her from getting people medical attention because they were concerned the individuals would get in trouble for using drugs.
From everything I’ve heard from other prisoners here, and what I’ve witnessed myself, I can make some guesses about what happened to Hazel. The medical department assumed that she was high when she was exhibiting symptoms of a serious health issue. People fall out of bed while high on K2 all the time. People on suboxone often are fatigued. But not only that—there is a serious issue with the fact that people are scared to even ask for medical attention for fear of disciplinary action for drug use. Drug users and non-users alike deserve adequate healthcare. There are laws on the outside that protect individuals from legal action when seeking medical help for someone experiencing overdoses or drug-related health emergencies. There is absolutely nothing to protect prisoners from getting thrown in solitary confinement or getting their release dates pushed back if they get medical help, and are found to have been using drugs.
Meredith Stern
Rene is a queer Korean journalist, sex worker, political prisoner and beloved comrade. You can find her writing at Autostraddle • Truthout • ThoughtCatalog • Arkansas Public Media • and KUAR.