The zombie drug queue in prison

Prisons across the state of Pennsylvania have a zombie drug line that forms immediately after the announcement is made over the loudspeaker. A large and insane stampede charges in like a pack of greedy wolves with only one goal in mind: “I want and need my drugs now! Get the hell out of my way before I run you over!”

It is known as the “zombie drug line” and is controlled by the prison service with a specific purpose and goal. “Show me the money!”

This “zombie drug queue” is common in state and federal prisons across the country. It is designed to control the incarcerated population with prescription drugs – rather than providing inmates with the psychological and psychiatric help they so desperately need.

There used to be several psychiatric facilities in Pennsylvania that treated people who had mental health problems or were deemed criminally incompetent due to crimes against society. These facilities were better equipped to treat people with mental health problems. However, due to a lack of resources, most of these psychiatric facilities have been closed.

Today, most inmates with severe mental health problems are housed and treated in state-run Department of Corrections (SCI) facilities. They receive medication prescribed by a prison psychiatrist but very little therapeutic treatment to deal with their mental health problems and disorders.

Essentially, these people have become drug addicts. The Department of Justice is the drug trafficker. Inmates become addicted to the substances supplied to them by the Department of Justice and the pharmaceutical companies that have contracts with the state and federal prison systems.

Early in my sentence, a prison psychiatrist prescribed me psychiatric medication to treat my severe depression and anxiety. I was given Ativan, Sinequan, and Risperdal. But when I started taking these mind-controlling drugs, I fell into an even deeper depression.

I became part of the drug zombie line. I gained over 30 pounds, had no motivation, and slept all the time. I moved like a zombie. I didn't even feel human. I'm grateful that with the psychiatrist's approval, I was able to stop all three medications – especially Risperdal. It is medically proven that long-term use of Risperdal in men can cause breast growth that requires surgical removal.

Eventually, I was able to get off all psychiatric medications. That was 25 years ago. I believe if I had continued taking those drugs, I would be dead today, six feet under. I would never have started creative writing, never grown in faith, never completed my institutional programs, never became a Certified Peer Support Specialist, or never started the Villanova University Program at SCI Phoenix. The drugs would have controlled me and I would have been a zombie.

Then there are the drug addicts who are already struggling with severe addictions before they are incarcerated. They take psychotropic drugs prescribed by a prison psychiatrist to satisfy their addiction. They also consume other drugs sold by drug-dealing prison inmates. They are prepared to fight or even kill to get their drug-induced utopian high. Many even die of an overdose. Their bodies are taken to the local county morgue in body bags or on prison stretchers.

Just recently, an SCI inmate accidentally set himself on fire while trying to light synthetic drugs using an e-cigarette and charger that caught fire, eventually causing 90% burns to his body. He is in a coma in a Pennsylvania hospital and is close to death. He has become a zombie due to the drugs that controlled him. This is no different than the drugs the psychiatrist prescribes to the inmates.

They consume you to the point of mind control. Some of these men in prison try to fool the guards during the drug line by not taking their medication by hiding the pills deep in their mouth or somehow sticking the pills up their butt and eventually selling those pills to all the drug addicts on the block. This is a common thing in prison.

To tell the truth, the Department of Corrections has entered into contracts with pharmaceutical companies to administer prescription drugs to as many inmates as possible.

So the zombie drug line is alive and well and thriving in Pennsylvania's prison system. Something has to change to cure the sick and addicted.

Larry Stromberg