The U.S. Justice Department says there are 33% of disabled people in
prison. Texas closed mental health hospitals and a lot of disabled
people are now housed in prison.
A disabled person makes $9,000 a year to live on the streets, but TDC
makes $32,000 a year to house the same person. In TDC there is no
protection for disabled people and most can’t write or think properly to
protect themselves from rape, extortion, beatings and mistreatment from
staff and medical care.
This is one case out of many that I am trying to bring to light. I was
being overdosed at the pill window [where they dispense medicine in the
prison]. The pill window staff would give me an odd number of pills
repeatedly and when asked why, the reply would be “Take your meds or
receive a disciplinary case.” Over the course of this three and a half
years, my blood work has come back toxic three times. While this was
going on I had over 30 seizures and I started having blackouts. I did
not receive treatment for years.
When I first learned that I was being overdosed I told the nurse. The
reply was “we don’t do that” so I wrote emergency grievances but they
were all kicked out. I requested help from the doctor and he said “he’s
crazy” and sent me to the mental health department. Then TDC put me to
work while I was still unstable from seizures. I had three seizures at
work and they said it was a security issue and put me back to work in
the hot kitchen where I had 4 more seizures.
Eventually I talked to a nurse who stopped the overdose of one of my
drugs. But the medical department continued to cover up the overdose
while the overdose of another drug was still going on. I told the nurse
manager that I needed my medical records to show the doctor to stop the
seizures and blackouts. She said “we don’t keep those records” then
added “some of your records are not for you to see.” Then she told me
“get a lawyer.” When my lawyer finally was able to get my medical
records, I found that the overdose was deleted from my records. The
lawyer asked the nurse manager about this and was told this was a
mistake and sent the records again. But the records were not corrected.
After repeated appeals and requests for my full records, on the fifth
try I got a set of records that show them overdosing me 11 times, but
the rest of the dates were changed.
After 2 years I wrote to Senator John Whitmire and to the Texas Medical
Board. The Senator faxed a medical release to get my medical records and
within two weeks the doctor called me in and asked me what was wrong. I
told him “seizures, blackouts, confusion, and I could not eat.” He asked
how long and I told him I had been reporting all this for the past two
years. He said he would send me to a neurologist.
Then my letter from the Texas Medical Board came and the response said
“the doctor is now under investigation for what he has done and now his
case is in the director of enforcement.”
My last seizure was August 2007 and I was sent to the emergency room.
There I weighed 148 pounds, that is a loss of 52 pounds from this
treatment. My appointment with a neurologist showed neurological
problems. So I filed a case in federal court and was denied counsel. Now
I must represent myself.
This is going on in prison. There was a man who died August 9, 2007 from
seizures from the same treatment I was getting. If they have the ability
to change my records, then they will change anyone’s and get away with
it.