Eural J. Black
For Urban Drip Magazine
In the spring of 2019 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. I was serving time in federal prison and now came the shocking revelation that I had prostate. I had no idea what my next step would be, chemotherapy, surgery, radiation. But If you have faith you know exactly where your Help will come from.
A few months later I was transferred to a prison hospital, Butner Medical Center in North Carolina for treatment. Men from all security levels- high security penitentiaries, medium security prisons, and low security camps were sent there to be treated for all kinds of medical issues.
The fourth floor was where they housed cancer patients. The men who were already there told me that those of us being treated for prostate cancer could be treated more successfully if it hadn’t metastized and mines hadn’t. Thank GOD. The doctors, nurses, oncologists, support staff, administration, and yes- even the correctional officers (c.o.’s) were very personable, very professional, pleasant, and sympathetic to us. They treated us with dignity and respect. I thank GOD for them.
If my cancer had been bad, and I was sent there for palliative care only, I would have been sent to the fifth floor. The fifth floor was where men who were sicker or needed more attention lived. There was also a unit for men with severe mental health problems. In addition to the professional medical staff that was there, there was also a group of men serving time who went above and beyond the call of duty to help their fellow incarcerated man.
Inside that complex was a low security facility, a cadre of men, who lived and worked there. They worked throughout the complex mostly to support the medical staff. Some of those men worked in a program called the Inmate Companion Program and they were called ICP’s. They assisted the medical staff in helping the patients. Those men did extraordinary work and provided an invaluable service to the men who couldn’t always help themselves.
There were men in federal prison who required 24 hour care. They may have been healthy when they came to prison but over time their health debilitated. Some guys were bedridden, some were invalids, mutes, epileptic or paralyzed. Some had seizures or strokes, needed feeding tubes or wore coloscopy bags. There were guys who were confined to wheelchairs, used walkers and needed canes. The ICP’s assisted those men in many ways. They took them to dialysis, doctor’s and dentist’s appointments, and to rehabilitation sessions. The professional medical staff would only do so much. That’s when the ICP’s step in. They did almost every job imaginable for those guys in that hospital.
The ICP’s washed the patient’s clothes, cleaned their cells and even assisted them in and out of the shower if necessary. They served as barbers and got the guys ice and hot water. The ICP’s played cards, chess, and board games with the guys. There were ICP’s who escorted the guys to commissary but refused tips or payments from the guys. I don’t believe they did those things for the money because the pay was minuscule. They did it because those patients needed them. Those men were probably going through the worst times of their lives and nobody else was there for them, not their parents, wives, children, or siblings. The ICP’s were there for the patients to talk to and listen to. I’m sure that some of those patients felt that the ICP’s might be the last people they’d have a meaningful relationship with prior to them dying. In most cases those ICP’s were all they had and they treated those guys with dignity and respect.
Can you imagine a person serving 100%, or more, of their prison sentence and still not be released because they needed 24 hour care, and either no one could afford the care they needed, no one wanted them, or no family member could be found? Or no one wanted to deal with a person because they had severe mental illness?
I never heard a disparaging word about the ICP’s mistreating the guys, either physically or mentally, or stealing from them. Murderers, child molesters, rapists, drug dealers, thieves, police officers, and even Bernie Madoff were among the people they served. It didn’t matter what religion they were or if they were rival gang members.
They could have worked almost anywhere else and probably made more money. I’m sure they passed up time on the yard working out, playing basketball, softball, or flag football in order to help those guys. Young guys serving time usually spent their time watching TV, playing cards, chess, or gambling, but they chose to serve.
Nobody wants to be incarcerated but those men who served as ICP’s are exactly where they were suppose to be.
Society doesn’t hear about the good that incarcerated men do, only the bad, the violence and the recidivism. This claims to be a forgiving society but that only applies to a select few. Those guys have not gotten the recognition they deserve.
King Solomon said do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them. In Paul’s letter to the Romans he wrote that we are to prove that we have changed by the good things that we do. I don’t know what those guys who served as ICP’s were incarcerated for, but I know they have proven themselves honorable by serving selflessly. And for that they should be commended.