Update Regarding the Health of My Son Who Is Incarcerated at South Woods Prison,
For those that are new to this email thread, I am the mother of Redacted, Redacted, who is incarcerated at South Woods Prison in Bridgeton, NJ. I grew up in Little Silver, NJ, where my mother still resides. I lived in Ocean Township and Lincroft, NJ and then moved to Union Beach in 2013. I note this as a lifelong New Jersey resident who grew up and went to college, had children, and then had a son who fell into drug addiction. As a result of his addiction, the short story is he fell down the hole into stealing and ended up incarcerated. I, as his mother, have tried to advocate for Redacted and now find myself desperate as his medical issues have become extremely threatening and his care, as you will read, was not attended to in a humane way while under the constraints of the NJ Department of Corrections.
I have attached the very first letter that was sent certified to Keisha Fisher, Administrator South Woods Prison, and cc’d to Victoria Kuhn, Acting Commissioner NJ DOC, and Willie Bonds, Acting Deputy Commissioner, NJ DOC, dated October 10, 2022 as a frame of reference for the emails that follow.
As of today…
I received a call from Maggie Reed, Ombudswoman from the Rutgers University Correctional Health Care Program. She called to let me know that the Medical Release of Records that Redacted signed while in the Emergency Care Unit (ECU) was emailed to her last week but she was out of the office for illness. She apologized for not being there to move this letter forward to Christina Kadelsky and Christina Prestien-Lapenta, who called me last Friday as per the below email. Of course I understood that she was not able to convey this information if sick. My understanding is that Mr. Thomas, medical ombudsman at South Woods, received the forms from Redacted when he signed them and emailed them to Ms. Reed.
My great concern is with the fact that, given Ms. Reed’s absence, there was no redundancy in place to cover her absence and insure that someone obtained the forms and was able to forward them in order that I could have spoken about Redacted’s medical condition and also, more importantly, that his vascular surgeon, Dr. Rahimi, was sent a release of records request to obtain very pertinent information related to Redacted’s medical history.
During our conversation today, Ms. Reed also told me that they, Rutgers University Correctional Health Program, were definitely moving forward in Redacted’s best interests. Since the surgical consult yesterday apparently involved more communication glitches within the system, Redacted, as outlined in the below email was not seen and was sent back to his cell. I will take this moment to remind everyone that, as I have implored you to understand in past emails, Redacted’s mental and emotional state is tenuous. He is constantly plagued with the thought that he may lose his limb/limbs. I cannot stress to everyone enough, and I am sure the surgeons in this thread will understand, that time could be of the utmost essence. Ms. Reed also assured me that Redacted will be seen, in person, by a vascular doctor. She is not allowed to tell me when or where but I am certainly hoping that tomorrow is the day.
During my conversation today with Redacted, he told me that the very first doctor that saw him prior to the very first letter that I sent certified October 10, 2022, came to see him today, November 2, 2022. The doctor stood outside of Redacted’s cell and did not look at Redacted’s legs, but instead asked him about his medical history, going back to when he was 16 going on 17 years of age, when he almost lost his right foot due to a vascular anomaly. It seems to me that when this doctor first saw Redacted about 6 weeks ago, it would have been prudent to ask these questions then. In addition, Redacted provided historical medical information prior to placement at South Woods Prison, so everything should have been readily available for the doctor prior to seeing Redacted for the first time.
Glitches, lack of action, lack of compassion and empathy can change outcomes, sometimes for the very worse. Based on what my son has told me and my own deductions based on the actions taken or not taken thus far I believe the system has failed. I do not think this is acceptable in the world of health care, whether it is for any of us, or for my son, or any other incarcerated individual. The system of medical care for inmates should be effective, compassionate and accessible, exactly as it is for you and me. I do not believe for one second that Redacted is the only incarcerated individual who is suffering from inhumane treatment within the confines of the NJ Department of Corrections. It is for this reason that I have enlarged the email base of recipients as I believe that it is our moral responsibility to care for everyone no matter where they are located, and that Redacted’s story is indicative of a systemic failure of our system of medical care within the prison system.
I am hoping for Redacted’s complete recovery as well as serious modifications to the prison health care system, which I believe are possible, adapting to the highest ethical standards possible.
Sincerely,
Susan Guardia
