Inmates as Patients in Hospital

We get patients from the State hospital which they are accompanied by two armed guards. The prisoners from the federal prison comes with 4 armed guards! Seems overkill with our taxes but what can you do. Most of the guards are regulars and know the rules but you do get the occasional one with an attitude. We work it out though and things proceed well.

We occasionally get inmates and they are always accompanied by two guards and are shackled to the bed. The wear leg irons when ambulating. Sometimes seems insane when it's a 70-year old who just had open-heart surgery. Never had any problems with inmate patients.

On another note...ok you new grads...students... what the blazes is "consolidation"? Sound slike another nursing school whiz-bang program, but what is it exactly?

We would allow the inmate to ambulate as MD prescribes, however, our policy was unclear too. So they would ambulate after visiting hours.

I am a nursing administrator in a correctional facility, and many years ago I was a correctional officer. I have done hospital escort duty, so I know both sides of this equation. To summarize:
To provide the best care you possibly can within the necessary restrictions placed upon the inmate as an incarcerated person.
Yes, and they had better. On hospital duty you are responsible for the custody and confinement of that inmate. Within the hospital setting, you are in effect the prison itself. You are there to ensure that the inmate does not escape, that the inmate does not obtain contraband or weapons of any kind, that he or she does not harm others, and that he or she is not harmed by others. I did not want to have to explain why an inmate who ran away from me was not restrained or worse, have to draw my firearm within a crowded hospital in an attempt to halt an escape that could easily have been prevented by using proper restraints.

The reaction we got from hospital staff ran the gamut. Some were grateful we were there, some wanted nothing to do with inmates, and still others thought we were barbaric ogres just there to cause misery to the inmate and interfere with treatment.

It's a legal issue. The state is liable if the inmate escapes and something happens. There are many documented cases of inmates who duped everyone into thinking they were much sicker (or weaker, which is easier to fake) than they actually were, then they escaped as soon as they were left without restraints.

I invite you to plug the words "inmate escape from hospital" into a search engine and see if you still feel sorry for inmates after reading the results - and if you gain a new appreciation for those who keep the restraints on. When I did this a few minutes ago, the second article on the list was about an inmate who escaped from a hospital in Brooklyn, NY and raped a woman in her apartment three hours later. The officer guarding him briefly left his post, and the inmate wasn't restrained.

It may sound inhumane, but these people brought these conditions upon themselves by committing crimes.

So, I will keep this simple and to the point...if a facility is going to have inmates in the facility then there should be a very detailed policy that dictates exactly how the inmates are to be handled. Without that policy everyone is at risk and it is merely a tragedy waiting to happen.

I am glad this has come up as a topic. I am a nurse that works in a prison. I have worked there for 5 years, and my husband has worked their as a correctional supervisor for 23 years. I see both sides of this issue. Correctional Managed Care (is what we call it) is a totally different kind of nursing than any kind of nursing. It does go against certain rules we are taught as nurses. And, I wish there would be more education and teaching on this type of nursing care.

You do the best you can. I know who my patients are and I choose not to know what they did. Fortunately, we have a hospital near by that is just for prisoners. The number of officers guarding a prisoner depends on their level of security. And, take it from someone who knows, that is a tax expense I don't mind paying. There is a reason they need that much security and you probably don't want to know why. Some of these individuals are extremely dangerous. Not all of them, but some are.

You do your nursing to the best of your ability, and you can be the patient's advocate, but the security is a necessity. That officer is also under stress, worrying about themselves, their co-workers, their families, and the public in general. In this type of nursing, you must be as professional as possible. And, in most cases, you can explain to the officers what you need as far as the patient's medical needs, and they will accommodate those requests to their best of their abilities.

We actually have an opposite problem. When we are unable to send an inmate to our specific prisoner hospital, they are sent to local hospitals. And, it is the staff at the hospitals that treat the patient badly, and it is not only the patients that tell us what happened, it is also the officers who tell us that the patient was treated awful.

I just believe that if we were all more educated on both sides, we would be able to come up with solutions that could benefit everyone involved. Thanks.

We have a cardiologist whom only sees prisioners and we get his patients for admits frequently. We have come across this many times. Our sheriff dept. does duty with the prisioner. On bed rest both legs and one arm are in cuffs. (high security prison). To ambulate, it needs to be coordinated with the police dept. to have two sherifs on duty.

Call me harsh, but it is not in my obligation as a nurse, morally or ethically to hide the fact that this is a prisioner. The safety of everyone is paramount and I defer to the sherif dep. to guide the rules for ambulation. Because John ! public, sees the prisioner in the unit is something they must get over, everyone is entitled for care. What John Q thinks of it is something to write to their congressmen. The politics play no role, in my role, I don't give a flip what visitors or patients think....... it is..... what it is... These prisioners deserve care per our laws and I follow them. I am not here to get in the middle or hide a "potential situation".

Family..."is that a prisioner that just walked by?", my response, "mamn, due to hippa laws I am unable to comment.

It's not overkill if one tries to escape.

..i work in a public hospital in NZ..policy in this hospital states that prisoners - either male or female - must have 24 hr - round the clock - supervision.. an accompanying prison warden or police officer is in attendance during the prisoners hospital stay.. this appears to work well with the safety of patients and staff considered..