no.01

I have a back injury that I sustained last year during an altercation with a guard. They attacked me in my cell at 1 AM, handcuffed me face-down on the ground, and shot me twice in the spine with a Taser. Then they strapped me to a restraint chair for six-and-a-half hours. I complained about the pain in my back right after the injury, but they never examined me and just said I was fine. It took six months of me putting in requests to medical just to get an x-ray. I finally saw a specialist － someone outside the jail, so they were unbiased － who found a bulged disc in my lower back. I also still have a bump on my head from the altercation and I get frequent migraines. They just give me Tylenol for it. I wake up to migraines every morning; they’re constant reminders of what happened. 

 

I finally got a cane this year to help support me when I walk. I get made fun of sometimes, like being called “old man,” even though I’m 32 years old. I only got the cane a few months ago, but they’ve already taken it away from me twice. The first time, I was walking back to my cell with my cane and the guard told me I was taking too long and told me to walk faster. Then he told me I couldn’t have the cane. He said to put it down and cuff up. He cuffed me behind my back, which hurt me even more; he should've cuffed me in front. SERT [Special Emergency Response Team] showed up with their armor, AR-15s, and gadgets to escort me to the hole. They dragged me even though I kept telling them it hurt and asking them to let me walk. SERT is only supposed to be for when situations get out of hand, like an escape or a riot. But they’ll come for a medical or mental health emergency, which then turns to physical altercations and restraints rather than actual help. My cane never made it to the hole and they said they lost it, but I saw a sergeant playing with it like a ninja stick. I was in the hole for 16 days without it. I even had to miss a legal call because I couldn’t get to it without my cane. 

 

The second time they took my cane, a guard asked if I was allowed to have it. He came back with SERT the next day to confiscate it. They said my medical records said the injury was expired, but my injury is for life! The guard just told me to get in touch with medical. I asked the nurse if there was an expiration date and she said no. They confiscated my cane just to make it hard for me. They want to see me in the hole and beat me up and try their toys on me. They’re mad because I question everything they do. When you treat me like I’m human, I’ll stop. But I already filed my own pro se civil lawsuit. The people at the jail said it was lost and didn’t mail it out until two or three weeks later, but it’s on the docket now. In their eyes, they’re undefeated. That’s why they are arrogant.