73-Year-Old Grandma Says She Was Put in Solitary Confinement for Wanting Decent Medical Care

My newest post is up on Bitchmedia:

What happens when states contract with private, for-profit companies to both run their prisons and provide prison health care? Carol Lester, a 73-year-old grandmother, found out shortly after arriving at the New Mexico Women’s Correctional Facility in Grants.

According to a lawsuit Lester recently filed against the private companies that run both the prison and provide medical care, Lester arrived in December 2010 after being sentenced to three years imprisonment for embezzling from her employer to feed a gambling addiction. During her medical screening, staff noted that Lester had thyroid cancer and required the synthetic hormone Levoythyroxin each day. The screening also revealed that Lester did not use illegal drugs or have a history of illegal drug use.

Lester had brought a month's supply of her prescription medications, which she gave to the intake staff. However, prison medical staff prescribed new medications, which caused diarrhea and vomiting. In response, staff prescribed her Zantac to treat her stomach problems. Lester's condition did not improve and she began having fainting spells—Zantac is also known to cause false positives for methamphetamine

Luckily, Lester had family who wrote letters to the prison, the state Department of Corrections, and state legislators complaining of the prison's failure to provide proper medical care. In September 2011, in response to these letters, a delegation of legislators visited the prison to talk with Lester and other women about their medical concerns.

Shortly after, the prison gave Lester a drug test. Lester, who had been prescribed Zantac by the prison, tested positive for methamphetamine. She was placed in solitary confinement for over a month, where she was still not given her prescribed medications.

http://bitchmagazine.org/post/73-year...