Rita L., Registered Nurse
State Prison, San Quentin, California, 5.6.14
A colleague of mine was working on the infirmary floor at the prison. Keep in mind: many of the condemned prisoners feel like they have nothing to lose and some have vowed to attempt to injure anyone, given the opportunity. She went inside an inmate’s cell to administer insulin and the correctional officer locked the cell door in error while the nurse was in the room. Minutes elapsed before custody heard her calls for help.
The nurse was freed from the cell without incident. However, she was very traumatized.
There was no follow up with this nurse or the staff working on that unit. There is no post-trauma policy for the staff. There is no review process for the staff. Wouldn’t you think management would call a meeting for all staff to talk about the incident and discuss guideline changes to avoid a repeat of this type of situation?