Meet Alyce…

Man, for the next twenty years that idiot would periodically come out, naked as usual, asking if they looked like they were hanging. Worry wart! And they say women are vain.

Incarcerated: 6 years

Housed: Corona, California

When I was 15, I lied about my age and was hired as a nurse’s aid in a convalescent hospital in Huntington Beach. It was one of those crappy dumping grounds where the indigent were taken to die. I made minimum wage and worked six days a week from 3:30 to midnight. I was standing by the nurses station having just finished my rounds checking and changing diapers. A rather tall fellow, 80’s if he was a day, 100 pounds soaking wet, naked as a jaybird comes shuffling down the hallway holding his catheter bag muttering, “Can someone help me, please?” Up until working in this place, I’d never seen a naked old man before and I have to say, it wasn’t pretty. What stood out was his nuts, they damn near stretched down to his knobby knees, banging back and forth like the clapper in a cowbell. With eyes wide open I just looked at the nurses like, “I can use some help here.” Flash forward 40 years. My husband of 25 years died and I’m shacking up with Fred, a Puerto Rican five years my junior. He’s watching me dress one night and asks, “How come women’s breasts sag like that? My wife did the same thing.” With mild indignation, I looked and queried “First things first. Your wife had four babies did she not?” He smiles with pride, “Oh yeah.” “Well, there you go. Breastfeeding is a killer on the boobs and when we get older, gravity strikes,” I noted with disgust looking at my 44 double DD’s that are now 38 longs. He shakes his head and says, “Sure am glad that doesn’t happen to men.” I looked over at him and said, “I got a newsflash for you sweetcheeks, and I proceeded to tell him the story about the knee-knocking nuts I saw in that hospital. When I was done, he was just standing there slack-jawed, eyes bulging in abject horror. I smiled and went back to dressing. Later, Fred, who has always had nice tight testis came walking out into the living room- naked as that proverbial jaybird and with furrowed brows ask, “Do they look like they’re hanging?” “Really, did you really just ask me that?” Man, for the next twenty years that idiot would periodically come out, naked as usual, asking if they looked like they were hanging. Worry wart! And they say women are vain.

January 2, 2023

Correctional Treatment Center

I was sent to the triage and treatment area because I was exhibiting Covid symptoms. I tested positive. A doctor I didn’t know was on the phone ordering I be sent to the Riverside University Hospital because of my age and being a high medical risk. Because of previous experience at that hospital, I emphatically refused to go. I signed a refusal. I was then placed in the correction treatment center. In doing so, the person in charge came to me to discuss my Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) order and my contact information to inform my sister I was in the hospital. The next day, going for x-rays I collapsed into unconsciousness. I was told by nurses that I became unresponsive, I was seizing and had quit breathing. I don’t know what life-saving measures were taken but when I opened my eyes there was a room full of people around me. A man that looked like a doctor was congratulating a lady for her quick action. When I next came to, I was in an ambulance and life-saving measures were being implemented. My DNR was ignored… again. When I came to again, I found out I was in the Riverside University Hospital.

I demanded to be sent back to prison and signed the refusal… twice but it did not happen. The treatment there was outrageous. I was there for five days and was never given water. I was placed in a rehabbed storage room with no bathroom. I was escorted, sick with covid, to a public bathroom. I had to wear my street clothes the entire stay, and was never allowed to bathe or wash my face and hands. I was made to suffer with a migraine for 13 hours before they would give me a prescription. I demanded to be sent back to prison. I removed my own I.V. never saw food and did not see a single person until the next day. The doctor finally sent me home to prison. On my way out of the basement I saw beds lined end-to-end in the hallways, full of other inmates, homeless people, itinerant workers, mentally ill and children! Who does this? I have never seen anything like this in my life or been treated this horribly. I’ve met several other inmates who met the same fate there. Why is this allowed? That’s what I want to know