• DPMC Moderators: thegreenhand | tryptakid
  • Drug Policy & Media Coverage Welcome Guest
    View threads about
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Drug Busts Megathread Video Megathread

Family Sues PA Jail Over Heroin Withdrawal Death

not enough $ in the world to make up for that

trintdaddy said:
I hope his family gets filthy rich from this.

BTW i was in jail in arkansas once and i knew i was going to have DT's so i told the nurse. she asked how much i drank and i told her about a liter a day. they gave me xanax for 1 week and tapered me off. point is, all the people at the jail had to do was have a little bit of compassion and they couldve saved the guys life. fuck them.
Click to expand...

but I hope so too.
 
DeadheadChemistry said:
This is pathetic, completely pathetic. I am SO SICK of people looking at drug addicts as less important than a fucking rat. It's ridiculous. Addicts are human beings who made a mistake, just like EVERY OTHER human being in the entire world, yet because of the stigma on drugs we don't matter. As far as the government and the state cares we can rot in a cold cell dying like this man and nobody will look twice because it was "just an addict." This makes me so angry I can't even begin to describe it. I have never been to jail, but I am on Methadone and Xanax and if they put me in jail and gave me no help at all I WOULD die due to the high doses I am prescribed and that scares the hell out of me. Something HAS to be done about this, there's just no other option. These are human beings, and this could be any one of us. I'll be writing letters to the representatives of PA and of my state regarding this issue and see where they stand on it. There HAS to be some kind of process of letting the person come off the drug. Obviously that doesn't mean give them heroin in smaller and smaller doses until they aren't in danger, but atleast give them the option to use Suboxone or Methadone in prison. This is just so sickening, died like a worthless rat and that's how everyone looked at him.
Click to expand...


That comment was so awsome, it needs to be repeated.

...and that is one reason going to jail is one of my worst fears. I am on Methadone and Benzos (for anxiety/panic disorder, never abused those believe it or not) but here is GOOD OLE' SOUTH CAROLINA *buuuuuurp*
it is said the wardens actually get a "kick" out of watching addict withdraw in jail.

That is cruel and unusual, and I guarandamnteeyou if I ever go to jail and am not given medical treatment...
Hell hath no fury like a psycho gay drama queen scorned.
 
aylatb said:
Well, serves him right for being a slave to his desires.

Weak.
Click to expand...


Are you sure you have time to post here? I though you would be too busy kicking your dog or slapping your wife around.
 
Went through morphine + xanax withdraws in jail in NOLA, no one noticed me as an individual so I wouldn't have been able to get treatment anyway. All I remember is freezing, sleeping sitting up, throwing up before trying to find another seat against the wall to avoid sleeping on the floor. It was so cold. I was lucky it was April and not January, at least. Orleans Parish Prison is a condemned building, though, and I would expect other jails, especially in less crime-ridden cities, to be in better shape with their medical programs. Really, it's pathetic how anyone is treated behind bars. Literally the number thing, no longer a name or a face or an individual. And at least I know in New Orleans, the prisons are so crowded they have men locked up in bathrooms for lack of any other space. Fuck sitting down in a 4X5 ft room let alone getting put on any sort of necessary medication. I felt so lucky to be a girl.
Poor guy. It is really awful. Just shows the state of the prison system in America.
 
I went thru this same shit but with benzo w/d and all they gave me was benydryl and ibuprofen
 
I didnt think you could die from heroin withdrawal? Ive heard of dying from alcohol withdrawal, but opiates?:?
 
chompy said:
all they do for you in jail is move you to a lower bunk if youre having wd's, that way if you are having a seizure you wont fall from the top bunk
Click to expand...

100% correct! On a 3-month stint sentenced to a jail known as "The Towers" that allowed no medications :\ . I've been on benzodiazepines at high doses daily for 11 years and had recently tapered down to 10mg Methadone (2 years) I was also on two other medications.

I told them the situation that I'd seizure and pissing/shitting myself if going cold turkey from 11 years on benzos at high doses. All they did was keep me in a "special watch" jail cell on a floor bunk. Unfortunate for me, they watched it no more than any other cell :| . TWICE I seizured in that cell. They just dragged me (literally) on the floor to a medical emergency room and injected me with Phenobarbital and dragged me back to the cell. After the second special occasion I was injected with Phenobarbital and taken to the prison hospital which I stayed two weeks.

They cared nothing for the people complaining of withdrawals from having to go cold turkey from their meds.

HOW FUCKED UP IS THAT!!?? WE MAY HAVE COMMITTED LESSER CRIMES BUT WE STILL WERE PEOPLE! :X :X :X
 
That is terribly sad. I knew of a guy in jail going through heroin withdrawals and they refused to treat him. Also, I was in jail with a guy and he was prescribed Norco 10mg 4 times a day (he had rods in both legs). It took him over a month to see the jail's doctor and then the douchebag prescribed him low dose tramadol! He even gave the doctor his specialist's number so that he could verify the regimen he was on before being arrested. They still did nothing. He had to fake being hurt to make the jail send him to the ER. I hate America's criminal system...it is SO fucked!
 
Psych0naut said:
I am enrolled in a Methadone Maintenance Treatment and get 120mg a day, which is actually more than I need to feel normal, for that I need 100mg a day so I save up 20mg each day as well. A couple of months ago I was arrested and after my arrest was sent straight to jail. The same day a doctor from the mental healthcare institution came by and asked me about the medication I take. I told them about the Methadone and the dosage, and at what clinic I'm enlisted. I also told here about the dextro-amphetamine I take daily for my ADD, and that I also take Rohypnol each night to sleep and am prescribed it, which wasn't actually true but I was allowed to grab some medicine from my home during my arrest to take with me to jail, and so I wisely grabbed some Roofies. The doctor prescribed me the Methadone at the dose I was prescribed before my arrest, as well as the dextro-amphetamine and Rohypnol. The doctor only inquired about my Methadone prescription and whether if that was true according to my Methadone clinic, but never bothered to ask my general practitioner about the dextro-amphetamine and Roofies ....

After staying 6 day's in jail, I was sent to prison for another two weeks, and the prison had it's own doctors as well as their own pharmacy. Once I arrived there, everything was already taken care of before I even went to see the prison doctor for the first time. However, the doctor there didn't want to prescribe me the Flunitrazepam anymore because I was already getting Methadone, I though that was insane, I just as well might have been a long term benzo dependent person ...

To reply to the four questions;
1# People who are addicted to Heroin can ask for an intake appointment with a mental /addiction healthcare professional when they arrive at the jail or prison, and they will see that doctor before the end of that same day, no matter which day of the week it is or. Based on that the doctor on call will prescribe Methadone to stabilize the inmate and prevent any withdrawl. The inmate will be kept on a maintenance dose for the duration of their stay, they are not forced to taper while in prison or jail.

2#People who were prescribed Methadone or Buprenorphine before entering prison or jail can ask for an intake appointment with a mental/addiction healthcare professional when they arrive at the jail or prison, and they will see that doctor before the end of that same day, no matter which day of the week it is or. Based on that the doctor on call will prescribe them their Methadone or Buprenorphine in the dose they were prescribed before entering the prison or jail, in the mean time contact will be sought with the doctor from the addiction clinic who treats the inmate to verify about the Methadone or Buprenorphine. The inmate will be kept on the same dose as prescbribed beforehand to be used as a maintenance dose for the duration of their stay, they are not forced to taper while in prison or jail.

3# People who were prescribed any other physically addictive or otherwise important medication before entering prison or jail can ask for an intake appointment with a mental or regular healthcare professional when they arrive at the jail or prison, and they will see that doctor before the end of that same day, no matter which day of the week it is or. Based on that the doctor on call will prescribe them their medication in the dose they were prescribed before entering the prison or jail, in the mean time contact will be sought with the doctor(s) who treated the inmate before entering prison or jail to verify about their medication. The inmate will be kept on the same dose as of their medication for the duration of their stay, unless for medical reasons it needs to be changed.

4#I don't know what lortab is, but if you mean with weaker opioids something like pentazocine or tramadol, the protocol and treatment will also depend on wether this/these opioid(s) were used illicitly or prescribed by a doctor instead. If taken illicitly, it's the same protocol as with #1 and if it's prescribed by a doctor, it's the same protocol as with #2.

This is all for jails and prison in the Netherlands, most certainly the best country in the world to be locked up if you had to choose, I can confirm that myself ...


Also regarding fatalities caused by opioid withdrawal, Methadone and most strong, short-acting semi-synthetic opioids can be fatal to withdraw from indirectly and when untreated, but withdrawal from Fentanyl and it's directive, especially when addicted to high doses or after long time use can actually be fatal due to direct causes, and it's by far the worst stuff to withdraw from.
Click to expand...

Thats great for you, but the person who u responded to was askin about how it works here in the US. The steps that u listed aint NOTHING like how it works here. Especially in certain areas. If you get locked up in a nice county jail in some kind of region that is home to lots of upscale wealthy upper class people then you might have a chance. but get locked up in a a ghetto ass jail in a poor county in a overcrowded state for example Essex (Newark) or Passaic (paterson) county jail in NJ, cook county jail in illinois (chicago) and so on. When you get locked up somewhere like that forget everything you could hope for and prepare to be fucked as long as you stuck there. nobody gives a shit if you kickin, if you seizuring, if you fall off your bed and crack ur head open, if you just about dying , you might just end up dead if they dont bother to come to you before its too late.

If you think that anybody would give 2 fucks about whether or not u got ur methadone, u gonna be disappointed pretty bad. IF you are lucky enough to get on methadone, which SOME county jails offer and i mean SOME, if you are lucky, becuz most dont, then you will get 5 days of rapid decreasing doses and after the 5th day u on ur own. and thats considered the luxury treatment right there.

Wherever the hell u was locked up at, that is the most unheard of, amazing kind of treatment/care that i ever heard of in any type of jail , shit. I cant believe that shit yo, that is really somethin else. you shouldnt be assumin that its like that for the rest of us tho. While it seems like the procedures that you said should be the normal way of dealin with shit and it seems obvious to you that its just how you would expect them to deal with it, the sad reality of it is that the most basic, obvious type of care, shit that is almost on a basic human-rights level such as bein allowed the medication that you WILL become SEVERELY, EXTREMELY, DANGEROUSLY ill or possibly DIE without, is just the standard procedure.

thats the fucked up part. The standard response to a person in severe withdrawals askin about a jail dr to get them some meds, would be somethin like this:
"Oh, the dopefeen gettin dopesick? too bad junkie, you a junkie, why should we help you, you the one who fucked up and got a addiction for yourself! None of us made you go out there and shoot heroin in your veins, how the fuck it got somethin to do with us, huh? Aint no doctor gonna give you methadone. you think we gonna pay for yo ass to feel better cuz you sick? you gonna be here either way. Aint like you goin nowhere , so dont think we give a fuck bout how you think our "customer service" works up in here. Dont matter to us. Whether you sick or you aint, yo ass still gonna be in that cell so you tell me why the hell you think anybody here would be obligated to do a damn thing for you?

In case u forgot, you here cuz you did a CRIME, so now you sick, boo hoo, so you want us to reward you with drugs? aint DRUGS why you in here in the first place? Wow, that diesel really DID fuck up your brain. The fuck you think this is , a country club? You out your mind? You think you here to have fun? You think we care if you feel good or not? You in JAIL girl, you aint SUPPOSE to feel good. you here to get PUNISHED, so you better shut yo'ass up and stop actin like we owe you somethin."

Even worse, a person who AINT a dopehead, who is on drugs for MMT or pain management, will STILL not get their shit. THAT is the part that really makes me sick, becuz while ANY OPIATE PATIENT deserves their medications at all times, I can see how the jails would be like "hey, you only on MMT cuz you was a drug addict so you dont NEED that shit, its only cuz you a drug feen." but for PM, how the fuck they can say anything about that? I dont understand how they can deny people who is prescribed that shit BEFORE they ever got locked up.

I was watchin the news just the other day about a NJ man who has realy bad MS, and he got caught with medical marijuana. See the law is alraedy signed and technically legalized but it didnt take effect til this summer. so even tho the law already on the books, they didnt make it retroactive so this dude who started doin his weed plants once the law got passed but before it went into effect, got busted and got send to jail cuz of it, WITHOUT his pain meds. Dudes on like, Opana or oxycontin or morphine or some shit like that, not no lil vicodin pills, and they denied him his 100% LEGITIMATE PAIN MEDS, for THREE MONTHS while he was in there. He said he could barely move whiel he was locked up the pain was so bad. And nobody gave a fuck. Nobody listend when he said, yo, i got muthafucking Multiple Sclreosis in this bitch, I take more painkillers in a hour than a bitch with a broken leg takes in a week, i am PHYSICALLY DEPENDENT on this medication and i NEED IT TO FUNCTION, it will be dangerous if i dont have it....And just like all the junkies and methadone patients and all the "nogood scumbag drug addicts", they ignored him and passed him on by without even a second thought, without nobody even makin a phone call to his doctor to verify the pills, doses, and actual need for it.

Im sorry my post is so long but i had to write back to u, becuz its a totally different system here in the US than u described, and if somebody didnt read carefully they might get misled into thinking that u described how it works in the US and be in for a bad suprise if they ever get locked up, u feel me?
 
aylatb said:
Well, serves him right for being a slave to his desires.

Weak.
Click to expand...

Are you fucking serious or are you taking the piss here? If your serious your saying that someone should die just because they are a addict! What kind of backwards, intolerant cunt of a sub human are you? God forbid a person should develop some kind of addiction that he/she needs treatment for or atleast some fucking help.

With your attitude it would almost serve you right if you cold turkeyed off high dose hydromorphone in a cell with nothing but a rubber mattress and a toilet.
 
I am happy that Western Europe, and even some Eastern European and Asian jails/prisons allow opioid addicts (already on MMT/BMT/etc) to continue their treatment in jail/prison, or to start such treatments after their arrest.

Here is a link that includes some case law regarding Methadone maintenance patients in prison/jail, some specific examples of cases that could be used to fight the denial of Methadone, and arguments for the use of MMT in the national corrections system:

http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/boucher_prison_methadone.pdf
 
i been in jail since i was 12 in and out in 26 now all my crimes were cause of addiction and i SAY FUCK THAT JAIL im in harrisburg pa im a addict i was handed a 11.5 to 23 mnth sentence for agg assault and i was sick man real sick i was crying for help bro some real shit i stood on tier and yell give me fucking help i got none even wednt to hole hoping that will help no c o s beat the hell outta me i seen dr she said im ok really i kno im not i begged GOT NOTHING MANNNNNN I WAS IN DCP one bad county prison and i wrote death letters home sayin i might not make it and wat not thank god i did, but then i was on sub and sub wd is the worse imo.i got real crazy kinda after a while i jus puked got sad stayed sad and then went off deep end i was a handfull i still have a civil suit goin to trial when they beat me theses jails think its a joke its not it affects behavior i was sick then mad i had attitude of fuck u and fuck it all after i was sick i was and still am real mad hope they get justice
 
Florida Jails


I have been incarcerated several times in Florida, the county jail in Pinellas has a hospital, (HUH!) that anyone arrested for a drug or alcohol offense must spend atleast 7 days. There they supervise and monitor your on a schedule taking your vitals. If you show a B/P increase they administer a low dose of clonodine, after the threat of siezures and no signs of W/D's you have to be cleared from a Psyhc. and then moved to wherever you are classified. They do give meds. that upon verification from Docs. are deemed nessecary, usally psycotrophics, but as far as narcotics it's very hard to get. They do give Vicidin and the only sheduled 2 is Percocet. I have been on opiates for 31 years, while @ hospital you see a psych. and a Family Doc. with no specialities!!! He will prescribe meds. he can verify and feel needed, as far as myself he kinda knows my chronic pain situation and prescribes me 10 mg. Percocet, two tabs. three times a day. He also gives me Ibuprophen and Bactrim in replace of Soma. My biggest problem is the BENZOS.!!! That to me is the hardest to W/D from, causing blurry sight and lots of hostility!!! At my request they will give me Librium and three days it seems to work well. On the street I am prescribed 160mg. Oxcycontin twice a day, and 12 8mg. Dilaudid a day for breakthrough pain with four 350mg. Soma. I also get 4 2mg. Xanax a day for anxiety. I have been on this regimen for 11 years, but as I said the BENZOS. to me are the worst!!! The Doc. also gives me a double mattress and pillow pass and this for sure helps!!! Your scripts have to be renewed every 30 days if your there any length of time. I keep my commissary at zero becuz they will charge you $8 per script and another $8 each time you request to see a Doc. or even a Nurse! So what I do is I'll find someone, not hard, who has no funds and have my people outside fund his account and he orders commissary for me and of course I take care of him. I was just released after 189 days fighting 6(cts.) of Doc. Shoppin and 6 (cts.) Trafficking Oxcycontin. I beat the charges, they were dropped and needless to say facing 167 years had me a tad scared!!! At 53 y.o. I am NOT planning on returning ever!!! They are getting real tough on the Pain Clinics here cuz of the ones that are recieving Meds. they have no need for, but monetary gains!! They are the ones that need to go to lockup and suffer and detox cold turkey.......BASTARDS!!!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top