Domestic

I don't understand why you would stab your husband, let alone any one else...who just goes around stabbing people. Domestic fights are crazy to me! If it's that awful that you end up stabbing your husband you should probably leave him and find someone that doen't make you want to stab them...just a simple thought, then you woudn't come to jail and not get your Vicodin, Ambien, Benzo's and everything else you take. UGH!!

Crazy Knife man

So I was called down to booking to evaluate someone that was "out of control" He was still in the Garage in the patrol car. When I walked in the whole car was rocking back and forth. He was in the back just kicking at the windows and hitting his head on the other window. The deputies lined up to get him out of the car and they had to pull him legs first out of the car then two others grabbed his head and hands. This guy could wrestle! He was small but scrappy. They had to search him for knives because his friend said he had knives all over him. This kid was saying the foulest things you could think of. He was making self harm comments so after about 20min of searching him they put him in the restraint chair, and due to policy I had to check on him physically every 15 min. He sat in that chair for 4 hours!! Of course we rotate his limbs and check his cap refill and breathing, but 4 hours is the longest I have seen someone sit in that chair, and I had to be there the whole time. He would sit there and yell and threaten staff then he would begin to cry and say sorry, then back at threatening staff then back to crying. Eventually they let him out after he calmed down and they felt it safe to let him out.

I tried to upload a video of someone being placed in the restraint chair, not sure if it will work, but there are lots on YouTube.

Here is the Link -THIS IS NOT MY JAIL!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZiMjHmHuZI

Picture from previous post.

Here is the drawing that my Deputy drew of the previous post situation. I love it and will keep it forever!!

Ummm...I guess I'm not smart!

This lady came down to see me for some medical reasons. Lets back up..while she was in booking getting processed in they made her shower because she had poo on her hands. She is just dirty and does not take care of herself. She is only in her 50's. So she came down to see me. She was not a nice person. I was asking questions about her meds and medical history and I asked where she gets her meds filled, her replied had a hint of annoyance in it and she states, "Voc rehab" I thought she said Vogue rehab, so I said "Vogue Rehab"
she angrily yells, "It's V-O-C-A-T-A-N-A-L(She spelled it out)!!! You're not very smart are you!!" It honeslty took me back a little and I just looked at her then to the deputy and said she can go now. I thought it was funny that she spelled Vocational wrong in the first place then told me that I'm not smart. I think of myself as a smart person at some levels, but then again I might not be?!

To top this off the Deputy that was in there with me when she said that drew me a little cartoon of the situation and brought it down to me, I wish I could put a picture of it on here, but I can't right now. We laughed for a while, I came back to work after 5 days off and the picture is still up in our nursing station. So Funny!!

Sex offenders

I had to do a blood draw on a man who came into jail on charges of Lewd conduct with a minor under 16. When I see this I don't ask for the story, I would rather not know so that it is easier to treat them. During the blood draw he kept saying how much it hurt and how he's a baby about pain and whatever, he struck me as creepy! All I could think of when he would say things was, I bet that little boy or girl thought the say thing as you violated them, took away a piece of their innocense and trust in others.
Anyway I've seen a lot of inmates come into the jail that were sexually abused, molested at young ages, or raped at older ages and it breaks my heart. I see the damage done by such selfish acts of others.
The house next to our sold a couple months ago and we have only seen the man a couple of times and he seem friendly. Well our other neighbors who have small kids told me that he is a Registered Sex Offender(RSO). I looked it up and he sure is! I'm not really nervous living next to him, but it makes you aware of your surroundings. It does not give details so I try not to wonder to much about his charges.
I know some people who have to register as sex offenders have to because they had Sex with there girlfriend when she was 16 and he was 18. This only happens when the parents or gaurdians press charges, which I have mixed emotions about. A couple of years ago I met this inmate who was a RSO and he told me that he had sex with his 17 year old girlfriend and her parents got upset and charged him (he was 18), so he has to register every year as a RSO. He is married to that girl now and they have 3 kids together. His name will always come with an RSO after it.

Angry Diabetic

So this grumpy old man has been in our medical unit for awhile and when I say awhile I mean 6 months. People usually are not in medical for that long, but he has issues. Well our Health Care Provider felt that he was okay to be moved out into the General Population. This inmate did not want to be moved, but he had no choice. So I check am blood sugars all over the jail for those needing it before they eat in the am. He came up and started to argue with me about not being able to check his own Blood sugar because his fingers hurt. He then started to yell at me and demand that I obey everthing he says. At that time it became obvious that he was going to be a problem. Well after he yelled at me and said some inappropriate things the deputy told him to stand against the wall, well this not so smart inmate decided to not obey the Deputy-This deputy is a huge guy, he is over 6'7 and he played pro ball in Australia- so the deputy grabbed him and by this time other deputies were called and came to help contain the situation. This inmate was yelling and crying when he was taken to a small holder for a time out to calm down. Small holder sounds bad, but it's just a cell that has a toilet and sink but it's very small. Come to find out he acted up so he could be moved back to medical, and he was moved back.

This job is so frustrating at times!

How many is this now?

Inmate talking: "I had an abortion in December because I was seperated with my husband and slept with this other guy and got pregnant, Then I got back with my husband so I got an abortion." Well She is now 18 weeks along (So she got pregnant within a month after getting that previous abortion) with her husbands baby She thinks it's his anyway. This will be her 5th child, she did not want this one either and wanted to get an abortion but she is in jail and does not have 800 dollars for an abortion and now is past the gestation age that the outside clinic will do abortions which is 13 weeks, we do not do abortions in the jail. This inmate is only 23 years old!

For all those Women out there that want and crave a baby- I'm so sorry this happens!

Best excuse EVER!!!

The deputy asked this inmate why she didn't do her evening chore, Her response, (she is pregnant) "Moving the mop back and forth would wrap the ambilical cord around the babies neck and strangle it." OMG- I laughed so hard!!

Yuck!

There is nothing like Kneeling in someones pee while they continue to fake that they are paralized! I can't even go home and change my clothes! Good thing I'm not alone, the other deputies got it on them too!

Sometimes I wonder how we get up and come back and do it again the next day!!

It's all about the Butts!

I was walking into work, and I was passed by a girl in a wheelchair screaming and a deputy pushing her, he was taking her to the infrimary area. I knew at that time...I should have called in sick!

Well come to find out she had a prolapsed rectum! ( The walls of the rectum protrude thru the anus and hence become visible outside the body) Or in other words EWWWWW! look up the picture on Wikipedia and you will die of grossness!

I guess this happed before I came in and the nurse had pushed it back up, because you can do that, and she was scheduled to be seen by the doctor the next day. She continued to scream and cry in her cell so she was moved down to medical to be observed until she could be seen by the doctor.

then I get called over there about 30 min later and she was sitting on the toilet and it had prolapsed again. I have never pushed a rectum back up into someone before, I could see it protruding outside her "area" so I used a clean chux pad and pushed it back in all the while she is screaming in my ear and pushing out which would not let it back in, she would not stand on her own and the deputy had to hold her up, I had to yell at her to quit screaming and relax a little so it could go back in. She quit pushing and I was able to push it back in, then I put a pad in her underwear and had her lay on her side so i could go call the doctor. Well long story short she got some pain meds and I got to push in a prolapsed rectum.

This inmate is only 25 and it is very unlikely for someone that age to have a prolapsed rectum.

Well it's all about the butts:

the other night I was called over again to find an 18 year old boy on the toilet with blood all over -and I quote, "I took a dump and now my butthole is inside out." Well, he was stating that he had 3 inches of his intestines come out and he felt he might pass out. I did a quick rectal look and there was nothing hanging out of him, so I told him to gently wipe and lay on his side, and that hemmroids do hurt. Well he was then seen self induce vomitting by sticking his finger down his throat and then he pushed the emergency button and said that the pain was so bad that he threw up. I'm glad we have cameras everywhere so we know when they are lying!!. This kid is very drug seeking tho, I deal with him almost everynight I work. Anyway, I don't want to talk about butts anymore so that's it for now.

Meds in her "Whoha"

Okay so sometimes in my job really disgusting things happen. People get desperate for the things they have on the "outside." We had this lady that was acting really odd, so we housed her in medical. I get called over to evaluate her because she had fallen and hit her mouth on the floor. While evaluating her she is completely "snowed" she is in her happy place. Well this is why she is in her happy place...we found a small bag by the toilet in her cell, there was blue powder and medications tablets inside this small bag. She had come in earlier and was searched but some places are not searched like her "whoha." She was so desperate to have her narcotics and benzos that she put them in a bag and stuffed them up into her "whoha"!!!! She had taken a bunch when she pulled it out and was so out of it she forgot to stuff it back up there! Let me just tell you, it was so gross I almost lost my dinner over the smell surrounding that little bag.

Side note: if you don't know what a "whoha" is, just know it's NOT where #2 come out but #1.

Throwing up blood

SO I get called down to Booking to evaluate this guy who was brought in by a bail bonds bounty hunter. This patient was tazed 4 times while running from the bounty hunter, he was jumping over fences and hiding behind trees. Well they evetually tackled him to the ground. The hospital took 4 probes from a tazer out of his stomach before they brought him to jail. I get called because the deputy states that this patient was throwing up blood. They saved the vommit in the toilet just for me to see. It did not look like blood to me. I went ove to talk to him.... this is how it went.......

Me: What have you eaten today?

him: Nothing

Me: you haven't eaten anything all day?

him: Nope

Me: Well what have you had too drink today?

him: nothing

Me: Nothing, you have not eaten or drank anything all day?

him: well I did have some water, I got arrested while I was going out to get something to drink.
my stomach hurts really bad.

Me: Well you were just tazed 4 times, it's going to hurt for a few days. Have you had any
alcohol or illegal drugs?

him: No I don't do that stuff...

Well come to find out his bloody vommit was not bloody, but he decided to eat some tabacco chew and that is what made it look bloody. He continued to throw up until this nice nurse got orders for Phenergan.

Gasoline

I got a call to come evaluate some guy who was caught siphoning gasoline from his work trucks. He was in between two u-haul trucks siphoning away, with Gasoline all over himself and his clothes. A car drove by and called the police (Story from the arresting officer). So in booking he is sitting on the bench, he is alert but the whole intake room smells of Gas, (which I kinda liked! I do like the smell but not for very long, because it gives me a headache). Anyway he said he consumed some and now his stomach hurts and he has a headache. Well Duh you just drank gasoline!! His vitals were fine. He will probably bond out. The arresting officer said, "ya know what's funny he had 90 bucks in his wallet, now he has to pay 300 to get out of jail, plus more when he sees the judge.

Note to self: just pay for the gas and save yourself 300+ dollars!

The END!!

Suicide

We get a lot of people that come into the jail stating that they have tried to commit suicide in the past. I never really thought about that before working here. I get calls from the deputies stating that this person has thoughts of hurting herself or himself. So then I have to talk to them, there is a diffrence when someone is just frustrated and says it out of fear, or anger, but there is actually people that come in that have plans to carry it out. When I talk to theses people that are actually considering it, I can see the emptiness in there eyes, the attitude of "whatever" "it doesn't matter anymore" I long to help them find some happiness. I'm not happy all the time, but I have never thought that ending my life would help the situation. I hate that this turmoil is satisfying for them to dwell in such darkness. I believe that our childhood and our parents have a Vital role in how we grow up. A lot of these inmates have children. The older inmates have children in jail with them. It makes me so greatefull for my mom and the hard work she did in raising 6 kids by herself, though we all have problems and have made mistakes, we knew we were loved by her. I honesly belive she was the best mom out there. Sorry this post is totally random. I know I'm rambling on about diffrent things, but it's 330 in the morning and i'm a little tired. Point of this post is that Suicide is a real thing that affects a lot of people that I deal with, and it hurts my heart that they lean toward that.

What would my husband say

I walked into the intake room (where they process people) to get some medications, and this guy...who was drunk says,

"Hey baby, where have you been all my life?!"

I look over at him and said, "Are you done?!"

Then the deputy got after him for talking that way to me! The Deputies are really good about protecting us physically and Verbally from all the creeps around.

One thing about working in the jail is the comments that come your way, I had to learn very fast how to handle myself when comments are made.

Also as a side note this morning while leaving work, my windows were all frosted over with thick ice, and I was scrapping the best I could, and then all the sudden 2 deputies come over with there scrappers and finished the rest for me! I was so Thankful because it was so cold! That is the worst part of working nights in the winter, is scrapping your frosted over windows.

Drunk people

I love Drunk people. They are either really mean, or really funny! Tonight I had a mean one. He has a nose the size of a station wagon with veins showing all over it, it's kinda nasty to look at. He also had this stringy ichy ponytail (I'm rude, I know) Anyway he came in stating that he needs Oxygen, he did not come in with it. I asked him how much he uses, "I don't know, my machine tells me." I said Okay well when do you use it? He states, "when people are staring at me!!." Then he said some choice words, and I send him out to the lobby in booking. I forgot to get his O2 level so I called him back in and he was so upset, he said, "you had your chances with me." He eventually let me. I know by tomorrow he will be a little more sober and will be able to talk to the provider and know everything I asked tonight.

The other night I had this guy come in on a Domestic Assult and he had cuts and scratches all over him. I asked how that happened, he states, "I would rather him me that her, so I took a champague bottle and smashed it over my head." Wow that must of hurt.

Bathroom...

Working nights, I am the only Medical staff on duty from 2300-0600. I find myself drinking at least 88oz of water a night, so I need to go often. There is a nice private bathroom in our HSU for employees only. We have to wear radios for any calls for medical. Well... Sometimes while I'm going to the bathroom I get called on the radio, so...

1) I hurry up and finish my business, then aswer the radio...or
2) I'm not done so I just say that I'm 10-6 which means busy at the moment, and everyone knows what I'm doing...or
3) I don't aswer at all.

I have done all 3 of these. I'm always nervous to go to the bathroom, One night I didn't hear the call for me, and I was walking out when I got done then I heard the Central Operator say "Does anyone have a eye on Nurse ....." I Calmly states that I was Code 4 which means I was safe. If I don't answer the calls they send out a Security Crew to find me and make sure I'm safe!

One from my first few months of working

So my one of my first few months at work I was the one who would pass out the medications for those that needed them in the jail, I had keys that would allow me access to all areas, so I was in medical passing some meds out, The deputy was sitting at this desk. I went and opened the "wiki" door (which is the port for them to receive there meals and meds, and whatever else) I was sorting thru the medications to find this patients meds while I was doing this I told him to get his cup of water, when I looked down at the wiki door His "thing" was hanging out, he was wagging it back and forth at me!! I quickly shut the door and walked over to the deputy, feeling very violated, I told him and the other nurse what happend, My face was beet red, I was so embarressed, the Deputy watched the Video of the Cell and saw this inmate pull his pants down and do his stunt. They started laughing so hard, needless to say that was spread around the entire jail and I still get crap for it.

This particular inmate was in jail for indecent exposure!!!

Booking calls

Booking is the place where inmates first come in to jail to be processed. This deputy called me down in medical:

Deputy: (laughing) "So this lady came in can you come down and evaluate her."

Me: "Sure, what is so funny?"

Deputy: "Well she came in wearing nothing but a racoon skinned hat."

This lady came in naked with only a hat on, It was December when she came in, She has some psych issues that we were able to Identify while she was in our custody. She also had some drugs on board.

Introduction....

This blog is was created to give me a spot to share some experiences from my work, more for me to release a sense of frustration that comes with the job. I am a Licensed Practical Nurse, I work with Law enforcement in a jail setting. It comes with some perks, like getting out of tickets, but it also comes with Heartache a feeling of sadness and Frustration. There is a medical unit in the jail that is composed of Doctors, PA, Nurse Practitioners, Registered Nurses, Licensed Practical Nurses, Medical Assistants, Certified Nurses Assistants....and Jail Security. This is much Different than working in a Hospital, which I have done in the past. Staff safety is the first rule, then patient or inmate safety is next. The Deputies will make is safe for us medical staff to enter a room/cell before we can work on the patient/inmate. I find that my personal life has changed dramatically since working at the jail, I now check before getting out of my car to see what is or who is around me. I believe I have become more paranoid, but I also feel like a stronger person. To start things off here is a story from the other night.....

I was in the medical unit talking with a female deputy, we were talking about surgeries we have had in the past, I was telling her a story about a cyst I had removed and I was on Morphine for the pain and I was having hallucinations about having a tumor growing on my chin, I told her that I was in my CELL and I called out for my mom to come in. Did you catch that? In my Cell, she started laughing so hard and said I didn't know the hospital had cells!! Then I laughed. I realized I was tired. More to come...