Perspectives From Within
Since 2023, the Minnesota Department of Corrections has been discontinuing the medication prescribed to prisoners by medical physicians. Why?
In 2016, A physician prescribed 300 mg of gabapentin to be increased over time to 800 mg for sciatic nerve damage, degenerative disc disorder, and my chronic back pain. In October 2023, a nurse practitioner at MCF-Rush City informed me that I would be discontinued from taking gabapentin.
I was in disbelief as I tried to process this. “Why?” I asked. She said, “[The] Minnesota Department of Corrections has seen a rise in abuse.”
The nurse practitioner prescribed cymbalta; I explained I had tried it two years ago and experienced excruciating pain in my stomach along with diarrhea.
In November 2023, a different nurse practitioner recommended I try keppra, which had worked for me previously. Apparently, the MN Dept. of Corrections central office did not approve the medication, citing I did not meet the criteria without elaborating more.
What is the criteria now? When were the criteria changed, and why? If my medical injuries and records reflected that I previously met the requirements, why not now?
I’m dealing with the side effects of a psyche medication prescribed (amitriptyline) or no help with pain management. What are my options? It is not like I can go to the clinic and see a physician; I must wait and try every other medication with side effects that affect my daily living.
We have signed contracts being broken by the MN Dept of Correction.
What is the legality of this? Does breach of contract amount to cruel and unusual punishment?
Instead, there seems to be a desire for prisoners who have legitimate injuries to sit in daily pain. Is this a ploy to prescribe psyche medications to hopefully keep us incapacitated and limit our mental functions so we cannot write a grievance nor keep a train of thought?
We are prescribed medications by physicians. Why is MN Dept. of Corrections so intent on inflicting pain upon Minnesota prisoners? If the Minnesota Dept of Corrections cannot medically care for its aging prison population, let out those who have earned good time under MMRA law or Work Release Minn Stat.244.065, which allows work release at 50 percent of the time.
I humbly ask anyone who has family or friends with medical conditions that require medication to consider contacting the Minnesota Dept of Correction Central office at 651-361-7200 for updates on your loved one’s prescription requirements.
We seek the help of any medical professionals, attorneys, and genuine good Minnesotans to assist us by calling on our behalf to ask why this is happening.
In strife,
Keith Crow
oid# 205852
Perspectives from Within feature concerns from inmates in partnership with the Twin Cities Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, a union of prisoners, ex-prisoners, families, and communities working to transform the justice system in MN. The expressed views are not those of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder Media Group.
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Like the medical treatment people get on the outside? Don’t do criminal acts.
Jail/prison is not supposed to be enjoyable.