It Gives Me Power (NSFW)

[trunks2k]

If I had the power, I'd probably release the guys that sang the Salute Your Shorts song.

[Kara]

SO yeah - do the cutter, and the 3-weeks-off-meds guys have access to medical treatment? Proper psychiatric assessment, treatment, etc?

Our Medical and Mental Health staff are available 24 hours a day. Medical gives inmates their meds once or twice a day, depending on how often they need to take them. They are required to put the pills in a cup of water and watch the inmate swallow them. If they think the inmate is hiding his meds, they'll make them open their mouth and check to make sure they aren't "cheeking" them.

We do house some Mental Health inmates. The really bad ones, like the cutter guy, also spend a lot of time at the state Mental Health Correctional Facility. They usually bounce back and forth between us and them.

The cutter, he does this sort of thing all the time. He also has a long history of battering staff. Once in awhile, our Mental Health director decides he needs to go spend some time at the Mental Health facility, so we transport him. He goes there, gets bored, starts assaulting staff, they get tired of him, and send him back to us. It's a cycle. We have a few guys like that. It's kind of a game.

One inmate, who is our most notorious poo-flinger, likes the food at the mental health facility they have around the holidays. So he'll stop taking his meds, go nuts, and get sent there. Then he gets bored, starts beating people, and they send him back.

Now, the guy I've been dealing with, he is still being held for his Diagnostic program. All male inmates spend 8-12 weeks at our facility, where we classify them based on their behavior, mental health status, and so on. That determines if they are going to be minimum, medium, or maximum custody. This guy is obviously going to be placed on Special Management and sent to the Mental Health facility.

As far as inmates going off their meds, if they tell the nurse they don't want their meds, all she can do is note the inmate's refusal. We can't force them to take meds. Well, we can in extreme cases. If they pose a serious danger to themselves or others, they'll be strapped to a bed in the Infirmary and given a "happy shot." Needless to say, the cutter spends a lot of time there.

[Seshat]

Thanks, Kara. That does reassure me - and reduces my desire to rant about the situation.

I do think it's sad that we don't have any good way to handle our extreme cases of mental illness. But at least there's medical help available, and their medications are readily accessible (in a controlled sort of way - which, alas, is necessary).

[Devilot]

The only thing I can really add to this discussion is that the "white" you saw in the wound that was too shallow to be bone was probably muscular fascia or a fatty tissue deposit. The story was a little disturbing to me, but I'm trying to not let it bother me too much, as I'm planning to major in Biology (Computational Biology, specifically, as although biology has always fascinated me, I have an interest in and aptitude with math and computers as well), and the inner workings of people and animals are part of that.

[MystyGlyttyr]

Wow. I am a jaded female. I read the whole thing without even putting down my pizza.

The only thing that made me hesitate about the cutter was to wonder how many pints it must have taken to coat an entire wall. (I think it's not so much, though, blood spreads further than you'd think it would.)

I think I ought to consider a new line of work...

[Toujin]

Blood and viscera don't really faze me. It's the other bodily excretions (urine, feces, vomit, etc.) that gross me out when I see them. So I don't think I'd last a minute working in a prison. That, and having to protect myself from the more violent prisoners.

Kara, you're a better woman than I am.

[Ironclad Alibi]

People in custody come up with more and more inventive ways to hurt themselves, I have been told (ie haven't seen for myself) this tale. It will need to be highlighted because it is VERY graphic and involves self harm. -------> A prisoner used a plastic spoon to cut open his scrotum, split open his testes and unravelled the tubes. All with a plastic spoon. <-----------

I've heard tales of people swallowing plastic forks, inserting various articles into various orifices, its just not pleasant.

Kara, you have my utmost respect for doing a job I couldn't handle doing.

Since we're discussing gross... My wife likes to watch various medical shows on cable. The grossest thing I have ever seen was on one of them. Highlight below for a description.

A woman on the show had cut her arms and inserted earthworms under her skin. A dozen or so earthworms were living under her skin. She had given them names, and didn't want them removed. Shudder.

That's it. Sweet dreams tonight.

[Evil Queen]

Highlight below for a description.

Which show was this? I'd like to hunt down the episode and watch it.

(This poster is a big fan of Gory movies, TV blood, Medical Dramas, Police Dramas, anything forensic and The Cold Case Files on A&E.)

[Toujin]

Which show was this? I'd like to hunt down the episode and watch it.

(This poster is a big fan of Gory movies, TV blood, Medical Dramas, Police Dramas, anything forensic and The Cold Case Files on A&E.)

'Untold Stories Of The ER'

[Bliss]

The grossest thing I have ever seen was on one of them. Highlight below for a description.

I saw that one, she was definitively gone, a mental pacient. and from her behaviour I'd risk saying from drug or alcohol abuse but I'm not a doctor. Anyhow from what I saw in the show, she didn't purposely put them there. it was a sort of infestation you see, she had scratches and cuts, and they found them and found it to be a cozy place to hide.

Btw if you watch it again, she made up names for them as they pulled them, it's not that she had previously named them all.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Which show was this? I'd like to hunt down the episode and watch it.

(This poster is a big fan of Gory movies, TV blood, Medical Dramas, Police Dramas, anything forensic and The Cold Case Files on A&E.)

As previously mentioned, it was Untold Stories of the ER, which is on the Discovery Health channel.

There is a Russian version (5+ minutes version) on Youtube. Here it is in English (1 minute 43 seconds).

It is also described in detail in a blog.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

As a fellow former cellphone CSR myself, let me just say that call center work should me mandatory prep for jobs like Kara's because working at one, you learn not to take shit from anybody. You also learn how to deal with the craziest, stupidest, most bizzare people around.

[Kara]

Sigh.

My crazy animal-noise poo-eating guy was transferred to the mental health facility. Now what am I going to do for entertainment?

[Andara Bledin]

My crazy animal-noise poo-eating guy was transferred to the mental health facility. Now what am I going to do for entertainment?

Oh, I'm sure he'll be back, soon enough.

And you'll likely get more where he came from, too.

^-.-^