About My Blog and Me

I am a mother, a daughter, a wife, a friend to many, an animal lover, a hiker, a life-long New Jerseyan, and an advocate. Recently, my advocacy has become more involved and personal as my son is incarcerated in the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, New Jersey. He was moved there from South Woods Prison on March 3, 2023. He has suffered from drug addiction for years and suffers from depression, PTSD, and anxiety. Stealing to get money for drugs landed him in prison.

My advocacy started ramping up when I learned how inadequate the healthcare system is in prison because my son had some severe physical symptoms. I had no idea that the system was so broken. Despite all the nice words that are used to describe the entity that oversees the care of thousands of incarcerated men and women in New Jersey, at a very hefty cost, funded by the taxpayers of New Jersey, there are, in my opinion, many areas for improvement.

This entity is called Rutgers University Correctional Health. https://ubhc.rutgers.edu/clinical/uchc/overview.xml

They oversee health care in the New Jersey State Prisons. It has been a staggering reality check, in terms of finding out, in my opinion, how poorly this entity cares for prisoners, as I have been privy, through my conversations with my son, as to what is actually happening in real time. The lack of basic care and common sense regarding diagnosing and treating my son was the impetus for writing my letters which I have included in this blog. 

I have listened, written and continue to listen and write as the months go on as the story never seems to end. In my opinion, it is unfortunate that any entity that purports to give medical, emotional, and mental support, is so lacking in what I consider to be common sense, professional behavior and compassionate medical practice. This is based on what happened or didn’t happen thus far with my son.

In addition to the medical care for physical symptoms, the other huge elephant in the room is the emotional/mental duress that plagues my son and how the medical and behavioral health team at the Rutgers University Correctional Health manages these very complex issues.

Based on my son’s experience and his communication with me, the lack of compassion, empathy and sympathy by some within this system is striking. It is hard for me to comprehend how anyone moves toward health care without having some compassion for those in need. That is not to say that everyone who works within the Rutgers University Correctional Health program is ineffective, unprofessional or unkind. 

My first and primary goal in writing these letters is to help my son. That has now evolved and my quest is to spread my knowledge and inform others so that they, as well, can assist their family and friends that are incarcerated. 

My son is not the only one who is suffering. While attending the NJ Correctional Ombudsperson public meetings, I have met many others who either experienced, personally, inhumane lack of medical care while incarcerated, or family and friends like myself who want to advocate for their loved ones in prison who are not getting adequate care.  

It took me a little online research to figure out who is actually responsible for the clinical care of the prisoners in the NJ Department of Corrections.  I began by emailing all of the leadership team with the Rutgers University Correctional Health team https://ubhc.rutgers.edu/clinical/uchc/overview.xml, then broadened my email cc list, since my son did not receive the desired results, meaning adequate care, to include the Rutgers University Correctional Health executive management, namely, Brian L. Strom, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences Chancellor, other key leadership people in that area, the National commission on Correctional Health Care https://www.ncchc.org/, the American College of Correctional Physicians https://accpmed.org/ , the NJ Ombudsperson’s Office, NJ legislators, reporters, advocacy groups, the governor’s office, and of course Ms. Kuhn, the Commissioner of the DOC, as well as anyone else I thought may have an interest in effecting some type of positive change within the system.

I continue to strive for change. There is no excuse for inhumane treatment of incarcerated individuals.