Should you treat a prisoner different

[PEBBLES1]

Hello everyone, here is my question. Should a prisoner be treated different? I am a brand new RN, however, I am not new to the medical field. I work in the prison system as a RN. When I was in school, our instructors ALWAYS stressed to treat the pain. Pain is what the person states it is. Anyway, sometimes I feel very sorry for these men. In my opinonion, just because they are in jail, they shouldn't be treated any different than someone on the street. However, I have to admit, they do get better health care than the working public. They have everything, they get care for chronic illnesses like diabetes, htn, hiv and etc.... They also, get dental services, xray's, wound care, vaccines and medications for everything under the sun that you can think of. We also have a psych Doctor on site 24 hours a day.

Again I pose the question should the prisoners be treated any different. At my facility, their are some nurses who mistreat these men. For instance if someone come in for a headache, they will tell them to go buy motrin on commissary and put in sick call. I don't no if they have money to buy motrin or not and as RN's we can write some prescriptions under the medical director, so we can write for motrin etc. To make a long story short, the RN's do mistreat them, most of them feel, they are in jail, so they don't deserve good care, however you would give an animal good care. Please let me know what your feelings are regarding this issue.

[diane227, LPN, RN]

I worked some time in a woman's prison as the psychiatric nurse for that facility. I do feel that all people need to be treated as human beings and with respect. But with that being said, you have to understand the mental games that are being played every second of every minute in prison. Prisoners have nothing to do all day except figure out ways to game the system. And they know how to pick a target. They know who they can manipulate and if they feel that they can work you, they will and that rumor will get around the prison in no time. I think you have to be professional and firm with them. And I think you have to be very careful about dispensing pain medications. Once you start, I guarantee you that everyone will be in there wanting pain medication. I would not expect them to buy their own motrin or tylenol because many of them do not have the funds to do this and I do think that some of the nurses who work within the prison system are not very nice. I met people working at the prison who were more nuts than the prisoners. And mean as hell. And I don't think you need to be that way. I don't think you need to lose your humanity. I often spoke with women who had never had anyone show them any kindness throughout their entire life and were very suspect when I did show them that kindness. Don't let your fellow nurses try to change you. But do have a high level of suspicion and be careful. If you have to go out on a tier to see someone make sure you have a couple of guards out there with you. And don't be alone in a room with any prisoner for any reason. Never trust anyone to that extent. These guys did not get in prison for doing something nice for someone. Good luck and let me know how it goes. I miss the prison and all of my patients there. I think of them often.