Jodell asked William Wright:

did you ever find any of the prisoner's complaint's legit? If so what did you do for them? Especially for the mental illness clients?

William Wright Sure, many of the complaints are legitimate and (I hope) are taken care of fairly quickly. BUT lots of complaints deal with things that you and I wouldn't even think about in the "real world." If you want another blanket at home, you'd just get it out of the closet. In prison if you start with one inmate getting an extra blanket, you'll have a thousand wanting one tomorrow. If one inmate wants a bottom bunk, everyone suddenly is asking why he can't have one too.

The mechanism for dealing with complaints varies from prison to prison and jail to jail. In general, the inmate will send a kite (a brief written note) to medical requesting something. These are reviewed by nurses or physician assistants and an answer sent back to the inmate, often with the problem resolved or an appointment made for further discussion.

If the inmate doesn't like the answer, he can file a grievance (a longer note) which is reviewed by the Health Services Administrator or an equivalent. If the issue goes beyond that, a followup grievance is reviewed by the facility attorney, as it's a legal process. I can get involved at any of the stages.

We don't treat mentally ill patients any differently except to give them help with the filings if needed.

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