DannyBoyinExile

You tend to see a lot of strange stuff in prison (whether you want to or not), but after a while you get used to it. So when three guys walked past my cell the other day, with the outer two trying their best to guide their homeboy (who was obviously intoxicated) back to his cell, it was no big deal. It got a little more interesting when, a few steps later, he turned completely into dead weight as he went unconscious. They obviously weren’t expecting the extra weight all of a sudden, so he collapsed onto the floor, basically spread-eagle. Man Down.
This, too, is nothing we’re not used to seeing around here, but it will still get a reaction. I mean, we’re all aware of how many inmates have DIED throughout TDCJ, after ending up like the idiot on the floor. (I try to have some EMPATHY for the guy, if not sympathy – but he’s still an idiot.)
Throwing a cup or two of water into a person’s face will generally bring them around – or at least get enough of a reaction that you know he’s not dying – but not always. In fact, it didn’t work THIS time. Within seconds, enough of a crowd had gathered that even the African CO on our wing noticed. He may never have heard of Fentanyl just a short time ago, and didn’t speak much English even now. But he knew enough to get on his radio and call in a Flash Flash Flash for a “nonresponsive inmate”.
Some inmates are foolish enough to get MAD at the COs for calling it in, but that’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. True enough, nine times out of ten the guy will come out of it and be just fine, in a matter of hours. But it’s his JOB to call it in, first of all. And second of all, if he DIDN’T call it in and the guy died (right on the run, in front of God and everybody), he just might find himself back in a village in Nigeria. (The CO, I mean, not the guy on the floor!)
Within seconds, other COs (responders) ran onto the wing, saw the guy, and immediately deduced what had happened. Luckily for him, they didn’t believe his homeboys, who tried to tell them that he just passed out from the heat, after working out too much in the dayroom! (It was only April, after all…)
This was the first time I ever witnessed Narcan being used on an inmate. They sprayed it directly into his nostrils, and he began to revive, practically immediately. When the responder called “Narcan has been administered” into his radio, I realized just how serious the Fentanyl problem has become in TDCJ.
For those of you who don’t know, Narcan is widely used in the free world, and was expressly designed to bring people out of narcotic overdoses. As I saw for myself, it works. It’s sad that PRISONS even have to keep it in stock now – but at least they’re doing what they can to save people.
They HAVE to save him, for all the trouble he’s about to get in! First he went to lockup. He’ll get a case for being under the influence of an unknown substance. He’ll surely be found guilty, after they review the camera footage of the incident – and they may even see where he got it.
They’ll give him as much restriction and loss of good time as they can, put a CB (contraband) designator on his file. Then they’ll seriously curtail his ability to make commissary, and take his tablet for two years. (The commissary restriction will probably hurt him the most, as he won’t be able to buy any more drugs! At least, not with commissary.)
Last but not least, the guy should get his ass kicked from his own homeboys, for violating our self-made rule about getting high on the run. Although it’s not certain that ANY of these methods will make him learn his lesson about the hazards of drugs.
In the meantime, he’s still somebody’s brother, son, cousin, or father. (He could even be somebody’s wife – but I’m not gonna go there.) We should be patient with him, and do what we can to help him, whether it works or not. That’s about all we CAN do, until we think of something better. So says DannyBoy.