Hillsborough County Jail

Medications

Interview with Aaron

JM: Did you always have access to necessary medications?
Aaron: Yes if it was warranted. I had no need for medication and if I got a severe headache I was out of luck because I had to write to the nurse that I was having headaches and then they had to check me out at the nurse's office which normally took up 3-4 hours of my day and, no pun intended, it wasn't worth the HEADACHE.

JM: How did you get your medications?
Aaron: A nurse came around 2-3 times a day and called out people's names to come up and get whatever they had to give you. They did it all via computer so there weren't any mess-ups. You could refuse your meds if you wanted to but you had to sign a waiver at first until they got used to your rejections and they would eventually stop calling your name.

JM: What types of punishments were incurred for abuse of drugs?
Aaron: I didn't see any abuse of drugs or heard of any punishments laid out for that type of activity. Once in a while someone would have a cigarette that they paid way too much for and when they caught that guy with it they kicked him out of the pod which I would consider a harsh punishment considering how good we had it in there compared to the other pods.