🔵 By David Breaux. Photo by lauragrafie.
On January 9, 2021 the day after my 66 birthday, I had a heart attack! I had been given medication about 6 weeks before to treat an arrhythmia and put on blood thinners. I was told my blood had to be a certain level in order for them to operate. Anyway lucky for me I was next door to a good brother (i.e black inmate) who helped me call for help. The right officer was in the “Bubble” (i.e tower) and one of the most professional nurses came over with the Lt. who of course expressed skepticism because I was still on my feet and able to walk slowly to the HCU (Health Care Unit). This nurse to her credit told he Lt. “Breaux isn’t faking it, he says something is wrong, he is serious.” I didn’t take what he said personal because inmates often times fake ailments to get out of the cell, especially during major lockdowns, or just to get over the HCU to watch and flirt with the nurses. This practice makes it difficult at times for certain inmates to be taken serious. I do not and never have engaged in such frivolous tactics.
The nurse took an EKG and they called for an ambulance, and 30 minutes after that I was on my way to the outside hospital. I was sent to a 2nd hospital where I had open heart surgery, a double bypass. What surprised me most was the dedication treatment and professionalism of the entire outside hospital staff. They were attentive and always respectful. I didn’t experience and discrimination which surprised me more so because I was a convict, not because I was Black and 99% of the staff was White. Within the Illinois Department of Corrections Medical Services, doctors, nurses, are provided by a company called Wexford. I’m told this company clears or has cleared over a billion dollars providing such services. I know the nurses because of the pandemic shortage make out like bandits working double shifts regularly. Frankly they ought asylum on all the Illinois Penitentiary Gates. There must be 50 to 60% of inmates now taking or hustling one form of psychiatric medication or another. There is no more “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” I’ve never been around or seen many weak inmates; there are a few that go in the psyche calls just to flirt with the female psychologists/psychiatrists; others that just get drugs to sell to other inmates. The craziest thing I’ve seen is inmates who will pretend to take their psyche meds in front of the nurse, then spit them out and sell them to someone.
Inmates over the years drink, smoke weed, get high, to break the monotony of the day in day out drudgery but never to the extend and never using psyche drugs to get through their time. Until now. There was a time within the walls that nurses were given the utmost respect because first and foremost they were on inmates first line of defense, in case of stabbings in particular, the first person on the scene was of course the nurse on duty and she more than likely could save your life. This is lost on the crackhead generation and psyche pill takers. The older the population gets the more expensive the health care becomes and it will only increase with the sentencing laws requiring 100% having to be served under Illinois mandatory sentencing laws, when the overage sentence for 2 time and 3 time convicted felons can be anywhere from 50 years minimum to Natural Life. No one admits to it or says it out loud but we are all basically lab rats. The various conditions that afflict older inmates in particular because teaching moments as well as allow doctors to hone their skills and stay sharp. Inmates provide this even if they never admit to the intended consequences.