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Coffee with a Twist!
Coffee with a Twist!
Navigating the Harrowing Path of Prison Healthcare
Picture this: a loved one, miles away behind bars, choking, struggling to stay awake, and you're helpless, staring at the screen during a terrifying video call. That's what happened to me, Madam Ballou, while conversing with my brother, currently incarcerated in a Maryland prison. His health was rapidly deteriorating, and it was clear that he needed immediate medical attention. Our distress calls to prison officials fell on deaf ears, leading us down a frustrating and harrowing path as we tried to navigate the convoluted prison healthcare system.
In a desperate attempt to get my brother the care he needs and deserves, I've been ringing the governor's office, the attorney general's office, the justice department, and prison headquarters, to no avail. We've even reached out to the media and begun a search for legal representation. It's shocking to discover how the prison system seems to disregard the health rights of its inhabitants. This is our heartbreaking and infuriating journey, a journey that has thrown us into a fight not just for my brother's life, but for his basic human right to medical care and rehabilitation. In our episode, we're inviting you, our listeners, to join us in this fight. Your voice, your support, your shared experiences could be the key to making a difference. Let's stand together and illuminate the darkness surrounding the reality of medical care in prisons. If you can assist contact me 240-858-1288
Thanks for listening coffee with a twist.
Email me at: coffeewitatwist@gmail.com
Hey guys, welcome to Coffee with a Twist. You're here with Madam Belu. I know it's been a while. Please forgive my voice, I'm a little under the weather. I hope you guys had a great Labor Day weekend, nice long weekend.
Speaker 1:My son's birthday was actually on Sunday, september 3rd, so we did he turned five, we did Chuck E Cheese's on Saturday and right after we left and went to Massa Nut and Resort from Saturday to Monday and it was very nice. He actually really enjoyed it. It was very relaxing. We didn't do much, but it was just nice to be out of the house and relax elsewhere. Of course, in the mountains, wooded, it's a lot to do, but we didn't do all the excursions and stuff. We really just relaxed, cooked up some food, sat out on the patios, watched TV, slept. I was more tired than I thought it was a needy getaway.
Speaker 1:As you guys know, coffee with a Twist is just for regular conversation, no politics and things like that. But tonight I have to break that rule and I'm hoping I have some listeners on here that maybe can assist and help me. So for about the past 15 to 16 days we have been dealing with the prison system. My brother is incarcerated. That's a whole nother story. And again, you know I don't talk about certain things on this platform because the goal is just to like it's more like relaxing and like pinpoints, you know, or like topics that you can take back and discuss. Prison you know, I'm sure just about every listener that's listening either have a family member or know someone that's in prison for whatever reason or jail whatever. But my brother is in a prison in a state max state prison here in Maryland and what I've been dealing with guys.
Speaker 1:So I had a video call with my brother and as soon as I got on the call he just seemed really out of it and not himself. So immediately upon me getting on I'm like what's wrong? So before I go forward, let me tell you guys this yes, I get my brother's locked up, but there's me and my brother are very close. I can, I can swear my life on anything. My brother only does weed, maybe alcohol here and there, but weed, he doesn't do anything harder than that. So let me start it with that. So, anyways, I get on the video call, which one I didn't even know that he was calling.
Speaker 1:That day I just so happened to look at my phone, 10.59,. I saw the email at 11 o'clock. When I got on my email, I saw that 10.59, that I was peeing to get on the teams meeting, okay. So I'm like, oh great, get on, expecting to be our normal. You know, hey, what's up? Nope, I get on and I'm like what the heck? What's going on? What's wrong with you?
Speaker 1:He's like, oh nothing, like you could tell he was off. He's like oh, nothing, I was choking. I'm like choking on what he's like. Oh, I got some pop rocks from my friend. I said pop rocks. I said how are you choking on pop rocks? They pop. He's like, yeah, I know I must have swallowed it and it popped in my throat. Okay, fair enough, maybe that's what it is.
Speaker 1:But as we're talking and we're on the video call, he is, you know, like trying to stay up and like meaning when I say stay up, meaning his body he was kept like falling forward and falling over and I'm like screaming, like he was damn near passing out. Basically, while we're on this video call, I'm like screaming and yelling and his earbud came out of his. It's a wired earbud came out of his ear, so he's trying to like put it back and he's like so strong he's just like sitting there, like trying his hardest to like grab it. Finally grabs it, but he just like drapes the whole wire over his ear, not putting the bug back in his ear. He eventually does.
Speaker 1:And I'm like telling him like look, get a guard. I can't see what's behind him because it has a virtual background. So I'm like there has to be a guard there. Like you need to get someone and you need to go to the nurse. So this whole time I'm taking screenshots, you know, of all the positions that he's been in and stuff like that. And then I'm telling him like you need to get a guard. I'm like no one can see that you're looking like this. Like how the hell did you even make it to the video?
Speaker 1:So I get my house phone and I call my sister and I'm like, look, you need to call up to the prison, something's going on, etc. She jumps right off, does her thing. She was at work but she does her thing. So I was going to get off with him but I'm like, no, I'm hoping a guard. So he finally get a guard. And he asked the guard, like hey, on our way back I need to stop at the nurse. I'm not filling my that. Well, the guard's like well, you know, that's not going to happen, maybe tomorrow or you know some other time. And I'm thinking to myself you don't see how he's looking, so, anyways, um, so we were on the phone from 11. I finally got off with him at 1117 because I'm like you need to do something Now. I knew my sister was calling.
Speaker 1:So the whole time we're like calling and they're trying to say, oh, he's fine, he's coherent. Trust me, he was not coherent. I'm like look at the video. You can see he's not coherent. And I knew he wasn't because his speech was slurred. He, you know he was listening to me but it wasn't processing Like he was truly not coherent. So, um, you know they keep calling us. Oh, we have in this sergeant and this guard. Look at him and he's fine, he's coherent. I'm like you're not going to tell me he's coherent. I just got off the call with him. They're like, oh well, he cut the call short. Exactly our point. That is what we're trying to tell you. He cut it short because he's not feeling well and he needs to be seen.
Speaker 1:So hours later they finally get a nurse to look at him and we're talk to the nurse and she's like, yeah, he's truly not coherent, like something's going on. So, mind you, she's like and you know they're trying to put her on him being like a drug addict, basically, and that he's just drugged up. Yes, he was drugged up, but he was drugged. Rather, how he got it doesn't matter, he was drugged. My problem was or is if someone's like O D, a or or have an excessive amount of anything in their system, shouldn't they be? Shouldn't they go to the hospital where they can flush them out? He needs to be hooked to IVs and stuff they never want. They put him in a holding cell where he's being unresponsive. He keeps passing in and out. If it wasn't, probably for us keep calling and make them bug him and tell him like look, we need to hear his voice. Stuff like that he might have would have died. Who knows he would have, you know, just went to sleep, slipped in a coma, and that's that, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Here it is 15 later days later. He's still not 100%. They still have not taken him to the hospital. They still have not given him real medical care. He has been passing out ever since this particular incident, several times throughout the days. All they keep saying is well, he needs to be reporting that to the nurse. He reports it to the nurse. The nurses in a whole different building and when he's is passing out and waking up, his thing is the guards are the ones waking him up. The guards aren't telling the nurse that, hey, he had another episode. So it looks like as if he's only had you know maybe a handful of episodes, when he's had several more. It's just that they're not being notified.
Speaker 1:So we keep calling and they keep trying to make it seem like it's us Like well, y'all keep calling, y'all keep calling this person, that person. Y'all are making it harder for us to do our stuff. There's protocol and procedure, all that bullshit. I'm like, yeah, he was O'Day and y'all have yet to give him the proper care. So I am, you know, reaching out to my fans here, my listeners. You know I really need this to go higher, further. I need a lawyer because they do not do right and are not doing right by my brother.
Speaker 1:15 days, 16 days later, he's still in the same predicament. They still haven't given him the proper treatment. They still haven't done anything. And when they did put him in the holding cell, you know. They have him in there. Then let him shower for many days, have him in there with shit and stuff all on the walls. He can't, he had. They had him in there naked, they were mason him for no reason, just a lot of shit, you know, knowing that he wasn't coherent, but trying to put it on him being an attic, which I told them. Hey, he's been in there with y'all all these years. So if he is an attic, y'all are the ones that made him an attic. So what are you going to do about it? So I even flipped it on them. You know what I mean. They don't like that. They keep trying to put it on him. Either way, y'all are allowing the drugs in there. Y'all are not giving him the rehabilitation he needs if he's such an attic, mind you, he's been when excellent behavior for damn near the last 10 years. No issues has held his job. For five years he's been pretty much like a model prisoner. So you can definitely tell they are sweeping some things under the rug. So that's kind of where what I've been dealing with for the past 15 days We've been calling.
Speaker 1:The great thing is it's three of us calling at least myself, my mom and my sister calling around trying to get this somewhere. We've called the governor's office, we call many places. We're talking to a particular person. We already know that person's just there to give us lip service. She has attitude, which is fine. I won't say she has attitude, but she tries to talk full stern, I guess, assuming that we're going to come off a certain way. We're not. We just care about our loved ones. I feel like she's just there to say the right things to appease us, but she never has any updates. She never gives us calls back.
Speaker 1:Through this whole ordeal of calling all around and all that, people aren't really calling us back. It's us calling everyone back. It's us, I forget we're the ones fouling this and trying to make this further, but no one has picked up the phone to call us and give us any type of news. You know what I mean. They just assume we're calling because we're not getting what we want. No, we just want.
Speaker 1:We want him to have proper medical. I don't see what's the problem. Y'all get paid so much money every year for these prisoners, for each inmate, that you can't give them the care they need. If he needs to go to the hospital, he needs to go to the hospital. He needs to get that stuff fleshed out. He's been complaining about headaches and things like that. He needs a CT scan. He needs full body, probably at this point a full body workup.
Speaker 1:So we have been trying to get a lot of attention to this. I'm hoping someone on here listening could maybe help In any way. We've tried. Governor's Office, attorney General's Office, justice Department, governor I mean the headquarters of the prison, you name it. We've been doing I've even put an email to Fox 5 Investigates many different things.
Speaker 1:So between that and putting complaints in online, sending emails to people, which were another thing which I thought was real suspect the one lady that we're talking to that supposedly helps the families and they work for the prison but they help the families and stuff she didn't give me her state, her Marylandgov email. She gave me her Gmail account. You know what I'm saying? No, so I went in, I found her Marylandgov account and emailed that along with her Gmail account. That way she can't say we never sent it over, which I thought was real suspect. So I think she's just a person for us to call to appease us. I don't think she's just pushing what we say up. But that's it. To me that's not enough because it's not going any higher.
Speaker 1:They're doing nothing any different. He needs to go to a hospital, he needs to be flushed, he needs IVs, he needs CT scan, he needs his full body workup. 15 days later he's still not himself because he didn't get the proper care, and I could go on and on. But that's what we've been working with. There was a particular lawyer that my brother was working with, because this is the other thing my brother has sued this particular prison twice and has won. So I say that to say what I'm talking about now. No, it's real. He sued them before for negligence and different things that they're not doing right in there, and he actually one. So we're right back at it. We try to get that particular same lawyer to help again, but I don't know. He's a nice guy, but I guess we're more like.
Speaker 1:We want to see more action at this point, and the reason why I can say that is because he's had a particular case of my brothers for a while, for my brother wanting to file a suit against them for something else outside of this. And, mind you, it's been over a year and he hasn't made moves on it. And you know we bluntly asked him, like you know, if you're not interested, that's fine, supposedly he is. It's just that you know busy and things like that, I get that. But you know, if you would have done something about some of these things, then when we were, you know, expecting you to start filing and working the case, maybe this particular incident I'm going to say it wouldn't have happened, but it would be different. So that's why I say I'm looking for a lawyer, like I know this particular lawyer. He's working, you know he gets paid upon the suit. You know his 33 and a third and things like that.
Speaker 1:So if anyone that is serious and can help us, please give me a call on my business line 24 0 8, 5 8, 1 2 8 8. If I don't answer, please leave a message. That's my real estate number but it goes directly to my office and things. So please give me a call 24 0, 5 8, 5, 1 2 8 8. If you, you know, even think of something that could be helpful to help us get this higher, because it's definitely not going into the higher up hands. They might know about it, but it's not being done. They're gatekeeping it at the low levels and we're trying our hardest to get it up higher.
Speaker 1:Supposedly the nurses posted check on him twice a day. My brother hasn't seen a nurse since August 31st. We've been calling and there's been no answer. And I get it's a holiday, but supposedly there's a nurse, one staff, they are 24 7. So if that's the case, then holiday or no holiday, it doesn't matter. You know what I'm saying. So, not trying to sound inconsiderate, but it's like a hospital almost. They say they have someone there 24 7. So either way you still should be seeing him. But yes, so I do apologize to my listeners.
Speaker 1:I normally do not get on here like this, but I'm getting to my wits and I'm in hopes that it's someone on here that can help provide some type of guidance or things like that. He's in a Maryland prison, max prison, and you know just, he's just not being treated fairly. I know that there's probably other cases out there the same, so I don't want to make it seem like you know my brother's the only one going through it. I'm sure there's others and if there is, please give me a call. Maybe we can pull our resources together, get the proper lawyer and, you know, go from there. I gave my number. I'll give it again and I'll also put it in the body of this episode to give me a call on my business line and, you know, maybe we can fight something together.
Speaker 1:And, you know, get, just because just because they're in prison does not fully mean they're guilty. That's one and two doesn't mean that they don't need to be treated like human beings. So, either way, I get their criminals to the you know, since they, you know, were found guilty and that's why they're there. But we all know there's many people that are innocent sitting in jail and my brother is one out of them. I'm not going to go fully into his case on here, but you know there are some things we're doing with his particular case as a whole and I have a lawyer for that. I don't need for that. I'm looking for help with the current situation. So if there's others that are experienced this with their loved ones, please reach out to me. Also, any listeners knows any lawyers, or there's a lawyer or someone advocates something to help us through this, I would truly appreciate it.
Speaker 1:Again, I do apologize. This is not my normal coffee with a twist, but I had to put this out there. I had to. You know I have a platform. I really wanted to use it and again, I do apologize, because this is not the normal way I like to do it, but this is what I'm going through right now, guys. So I'm gonna end it there because I don't really have. I don't wanna blend another topic with this one. I want this one to definitely get its own episode so that hopefully we can get some help.
Speaker 1:240-858-1288. Again, it will also be in the body of this episode the phone number. Please give me a call, leave a message and please, guys, listeners, if you're a true fan of mine, please only call if you have something to share and something to add valuable to what I'm going through. I hate to say it that way. As we know, I'm putting my number out there. I know, and it's fine, I'm a realtor, so you Google me, it's there, but please don't flood it with scam and stuff like that. I would appreciate it. But again, please reach out ASAP and provide whatever that you can. I will end it there. Thank you for joining tonight with Coffee, with a Twist Promise I'll have another episode for you guys in the next few days.