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County Jail and Med Woes

weekend addiction

weekend addiction

Bluelighter
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
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The country with the world's most prisoners.
Ok so I gotta go to court in a couple months and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to hang out in the county jail as part of my sentence (southern US lucky me!). Never been before and though I've heard there not as bad as TV I still don't want to go. Anyway I'm prescribed some meds including Xanax XR. Will I not be allowed to take my medicine in jail? I've heard they have doctors that will try to replace your meds with shit like trazadone? Please help I'm freaking out as I can't be cut off my meds abruptly!
 
When I was in jail, they gave me my exact meds. They have to get your doctor's ok before they can give them to you. You should be fine. They will watch you take the meds, and make sure you swallowed it to avoid abusing it or giving it to other inmates.
 
It doesn't matter how long you are there. The only thing you need to worry about is when you run out of your prescription. You need to stay on them about getting your doctor to order you some more.
 
The truth is that it's going to vary facility-by-facility. Some will let you set everything up beforehand and it will be smooth sailing from day one, in others you'll have to make a constant fuss and hopefully be noticed before you lose your mind, and then a lot of others will fall somewhere in-between. And then, like the OP suggested, some will try and give you non-addictive substitutions or weaker drugs. In the case where they're not giving you meds and you try and get people on the outside to do something about it, you're still looking at a long enough of a time-delay that withdrawal would occur.

Unless you or a friend has been through the actual facility, you cannot really assume what you'll be given or when your first dose will be. It it were up to me, I'd taper down before doing my time. Not least because you'll want to fly under the radar your first few days locked up, and being 'the guy who is begging for his meds' is not going to harmonise with the low-key philosophy.

You've got "a couple of months," so you could taper without having to be cut off abruptly. I sympathise with you, though. It's really sad that some jails seem to believe that not giving people their medication should be part of the punishment.
 
Some doctors are real dicks, and frankly if I were you I would do a taper before going in. You never know what they might do. They might give them to you, they might not. Xanax in a Southern county jail just doesn't sound like it would mix. I could be wrong, but I would be safe and taper safely off before you go in. Some psych wards have refused to keep me on benzos, and tapered me off VERY quickly by unprofessional and dangerous means. In others I have had to cajole the doctors into keeping me on my benzos esp. Xanax. Xanax-phobia is a rampant epidemic in doctors. I was told in my most recent stay that Xanax has a half-life of 1 hour. I wasn't going to say anything because he was the weekend temp., but that is so fucking false he must have been fucking dumb or just lying. I am not trying to scare you, just warn you.
 
In the Los Angeles County Jail they don't give out benzos or opiates AFAIK, everyone in the med wing is doped out on Trazodone or Seroquel. Apparently, the LAC Jail has been accused of overdrugging inmates with anti-psychotics to keep them sedated.

Luckily I only spent 2 nights in felony detention for a poss charge, and never went to jail, got probation instead. Some guy there was kicking a $200 daily IV tar habit in front of my eyes, before I had ever done any opiates or benzos (real fucking eye opener to the wonderful gifts of heroin abuse); they denied him help until he almost died from not being able to breathe, apparently he had some pre-existing respiratory problems. They sent him to the med ward and gave him clonidine, seroquel, loperamide, suboxone (maybe? never had done any pharms at that point), and Tylenol. Some drunken crackhead bullied him out of the seroquel, though.

Your situation sucks, but at least it's just Jail and not Prison. People there just want to do their time and get out, just keep to yourself and don't make promises or take loans from anyone. This is what I heard in the detention cell, anyways. Do you mind telling us what the charges are?
 
Do you have an attorney? A competent attorney should be able to get the other four charges dropped if you enter a guilty plea on the DWI. If it's a first-offense, you'll probably get a suspended sentence (probation), a host of fines, your license taken away for a bit and a weekend course about drunk driving. Don't take my word as gospel, but I've seen this type of thing happen a lot and a good attorney can make it a lot less scary. I don't think you'll go to real jail for time over this, again, if it's a first-offense (for drunk driving).
 
ErgicMergic said:
In the Los Angeles County Jail they don't give out benzos or opiates AFAIK, everyone in the med wing is doped out on Trazodone or Seroquel. Apparently, the LAC Jail has been accused of overdrugging inmates with anti-psychotics to keep them sedated.

Luckily I only spent 2 nights in felony detention for a poss charge, and never went to jail, got probation instead. Some guy there was kicking a $200 daily IV tar habit in front of my eyes, before I had ever done any opiates or benzos (real fucking eye opener to the wonderful gifts of heroin abuse); they denied him help until he almost died from not being able to breathe, apparently he had some pre-existing respiratory problems. They sent him to the med ward and gave him clonidine, seroquel, loperamide, suboxone (maybe? never had done any pharms at that point), and Tylenol. Some drunken crackhead bullied him out of the seroquel, though.

Your situation sucks, but at least it's just Jail and not Prison. People there just want to do their time and get out, just keep to yourself and don't make promises or take loans from anyone. This is what I heard in the detention cell, anyways. Do you mind telling us what the charges are?
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I'm glad you know what heroin withdrawal looks like.

I can safely say knowing how horrible that feels will keep me from ever going back into heroin addiction.

In short, ask questions before going to jail, and do your best to set up whatever you might need to before hand.
 
RedLeader said:
Do you have an attorney? A competent attorney should be able to get the other four charges dropped if you enter a guilty plea on the DWI. If it's a first-offense, you'll probably get a suspended sentence (probation), a host of fines, your license taken away for a bit and a weekend course about drunk driving. Don't take my word as gospel, but I've seen this type of thing happen a lot and a good attorney can make it a lot less scary. I don't think you'll go to real jail for time over this, again, if it's a first-offense (for drunk driving).
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I'm getting an attorney but I still expect some jail time because of all the aggravating factors. Regardless I'm curious how meds are dealt with in jail because I know it varies a lot and I know some people get fucked. I just want to shed some light on the issue as I've seen people with good and bad experiences.

EDIT: I also know that until I talk to said attorney I won't know about my specific situation and even then I could get fucked by the system.
 
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If I were you, I would start the tapering process as soon as possible, to be as comfortable as possible just in case. A couple of months is actually a pretty long time, it allows a pretty slow, steady taper.

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.
 
I was recently in jail with a guy (end of march of '12) who was hit by a car, taken to the hospital by ambulance, and when questioned by cops about the accident found out he had a warrant and was locked up upon his release. The nurses gave him his 2x daily 10mg hydrocodone and 2x daily 10m cyclobenzeprine (flexeril) for his injuries. Quite a few people received their psych meds such as antidepressants and what not but no maintenance drugs in my county (good ol St Clair Ill.)
 
in my county jail they said i needed to have someone bring in a prescription from a doctor to get any meds. you should look up your county jail website on google and find their phonenumber. they should tell you what you can do.
 
Miss Kirsty said:
May i ask the difference between jail and prison?...In Australia they are one and the same....
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after you get arrested you get sent to county jail. if you get convicted of a felony you(most likely) get sent to prison after you go to the legal process in jail.
 
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