Just got off the phone with a client who hasn’t been able to call because the jail has been taking his money for his meds.

In jail pretrial, they won’t continue you on any medicine you were on previously. You are abruptly taken off because you aren’t allowed to take your meds.

No regard for what abrupt discontinuation of meds will do (from what I’ve seen can range from delusions, delirium, psychosis, suicidal thoughts to actual suicide.) You stay like this while waiting to see medical which can take 20 days- month(s). Longest I’ve seen was 3 months.

After seeing medical, your scripts are often changed to different brands, doses reduced, and only administered once a week. So if you were prescribed something for bipolar— you’d get your one (smaller different brand) dose once a week.

You are then billed for that visit to medical + that medicine that’s administered once a week which is deducted from any money you have in your commissary. Then whatever remains is an open bill which will be taken should your family put more money on your books.

Your commissary is the only money you can access in jail— not only is this how you call home, how you video visit during a pandemic (because in person isn’t allowed), how you get utensils, paper, etc. to write home, but also how you buy necessities that the jail doesn’t provide