Jessica’s Case Study
I was sent to prison for drug offences after being introduced to drugs by my ex-partner. I live in Wales, but there are no women’s prisons in Wales and so I was held in a prison in England, many miles from home.
When I first went to prison, it took me over a month to be given the medication that I had been taking in the community, and I was told this was because I was being held in England whilst I was registered with a Welsh GP. This resulted in a huge delay in getting my medical history to the prison because I was told that NHS Wales has different systems to the ones in England, and no one was able to inform me when my information would be given to the prison and processed.
The medication I needed but did not receive included my weekly diabetes injection, anti-depressants, pain relief and steroid cream for psoriasis. When I was initially on the induction wing, I was left in my cell for 23 hours a day without my blood sugars being monitored. I was really worried about going through medication withdrawal without supervision and I felt constantly dehydrated, exhausted and unwell.
On occasions, I had to ask other women for their medication to try to manage the pain, which was something that lots of people on the wing did."
As I didn’t have my steroid cream for psoriasis, my skin was unbearably itchy. When the itching and irritation became too intense, I would press my cell bell and eventually a nurse would give me a small amount of cream for me to apply but it was never enough to really provide me with any relief.
I went to the medication desk regularly to ask for an update about my medication, but I just felt fobbed off as I was just repeatedly told was that the NHS in Wales needed to sort it out before they could issue medication for me. I felt so helpless and powerless.
I also have a twisted pelvis and take daily codeine to relieve the pain I experience when I walk; however, the last month I was inside, my codeine prescription ended, and I had to put in paper applications (known as ‘apps’ in prison) to be given three days’ worth of paracetamol. The prison app system was paper-based and it often took longer than three days to get a response, meaning that I was then left without any pain relief.