I work in healthcare in a notorious men's prison. AMA

[TexasTyson]

People generally find my job interesting and have a load of questions.

I'm a paramedic and I've given up working on the road (I.e. on ambulances) to work in a men's prison.

What are the most common injuries and illnesses that you see?
What is the average age of the prisoners you treat?

What are most men in for?
Is it actually true that sex offenders and paedophiles get beaten up by other inmates?
Has anyone ever been violent with you?

Have you ever been in a scary situation with a prisoner?

Has a prisoner ever tried it on with you?

The prisoners range from 19 upwards.

There is a huge amount of self harm and mental health. But equally there are all the usual ailments you'll find in a population of over 1000

are you male or female?

do you enjoy your job?

Do you ever feel unsafe?

Is it easier to get an appointment than it is on the outside?

Two questions please:

Do the prisoners regularly fake symptoms for attention/to get a night in hospital etc?

Is there a large amount of scabies in the population?

Do you have a favourite who you look forward to seeing?

It's what's called a local remand prison. So some of the prisoners are locals on remand waiting to be sentenced and some are sentenced already. This means crimes can be anything at all. There's a huge amount in for non violent drug offences though.

Yes they do, but not often. They're not popular thought and are shunned if other inmates find out their offence. The paedophiles are kept mostly in the same area.

No violence toward me at all.

No, never

No, but if they did I would remove myself and report them.

Do you have a mortuary at the prison.

Do you use the sane funeral directors? Are they vetted to come into prison?

I'm a female in mid 30s

I absolutely love it!

great! what about it do you love?

Never. There are officers everywhere and I know how to get their attention. I'm never alone with prisoners who are deemed violent or a risk to females.
I'm miles safe in the prison then I was on the frontline!

100% easier! Prisoners don't realise how lucky they are. Gold standard private healthcare all available in house.

Generally no. We deal with a huge amount in-house so prisoners only go out to planned hospital appointments and for real emergencies. And you can't fake a real emergency in front of very experienced clinicians.

No scabies so far, but one wing does have headline going round at the moment. Ugh.

No, looking forward to seeing someone would be a huge boundary overstep and I'd have to report myself and take steps to distance myself.

There are prisoners that I know better than others for various reasons.

No, a death in the prison is dealt with like an unexpected death on the outside- the coroner would take the person to the public mortuary. From there its like any other death, the family would arrange undertakes etc

I get to practice autonomously.

My day has some structure to it.

I get to follow patients up, whereas on the outside I rarely find out what happened to a person after I leave them.

I work with a small team and we all matter.

How do you care for and monitor prisoners coming in who have a physical dependency on alcohol or drugs like heroin?