# What happens when a person gets arrested... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 24, 2015, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742 "2015-01-24T09:30:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742/21 "2015-01-26T03:47:12Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Their medical transfer paperwork lists the meds they’d been receiving in the MKE Co. Jail. And I’ve seen inmates coming from there who were on benzos for alcohol withdrawal while at MKE Co. Jail. It’s standard of care, to not do it would open them to multi-million dollar lawsuits. And be inconsistent with National Commission on Correctional Health Care’s standards for jails. Possible they were given it when they were down at the clinic. There were certain meds the nurses did not carry on their carts when they came into the pods. When I was there (and I was assigned there only 22 months and not all jail duties involve working in a pod) when an inmate was withdrawing it sucked for the 2 deps working in there. They’d be barfing in their cell, pacing back and forth, pounding on the door, yelling, screaming. We’d call a medical emergency and have to lock down the pod. Nurse would come in, take their temp and blood pressure and give them Tylenol. I never saw anyone get anything other than that, especially in the in-take pods. Remember, most of those inmates were either awaiting trial or bail. Sentenced inmates tended to get sent to the House of Correction. So it could take a while before any medical staff prescribed anything for it. I never saw anything given. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742/22 "2015-01-26T04:12:34Z")
Alright, **Qadgop**. Just to prove you wrong I called my brother who started working there 7 years after I did. He said the nurses have something [possibly methadone] in a locked box on their carts that got put into a cup of canned orange juice. The withdrawing inmate would have to come up to the cart when called and drink the juice down in front of the nurse, open his mouth and lift his tongue up. Then the empty cup got put into a container similar to a sharps container. This is a change because I don’t recall this happening when I had to work a pod. Perhaps it was a response to the upswing in opiate use? And remember, I was only off the road and in the jail for 22 months. And I got transferred back out in 2004. He did say that it took time for inmates to get this treatment and it did not happen in the intake pod. So I was right about that at least. They’re not just giving the stuff out on request. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742/23 "2015-01-26T06:04:13Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > 25 years on a large Sheriffs office, about 2 working in the jail. > > Meds brought to the jail, whether by mom or anyone else, are not going to be dispensed to inmate. Period. **DO NOT** come to the jail trying to give any form of drug to the visitation deputy. I can recall stories where that is a very bad idea.Even if they are over the counter meds your day could be quite ruined by this stupid act. The only thing that will be accepted for an inmate is a change of clothes for court. And those are kept in a secure area until the inmate is transferred to the court staging area the day of his/her appearance. > > Care is taken by medical staff to confirm that the inmate was prescribed certain meds and they will be dispensed by the jail pharmacy and ONLY the jail pharmacy. I don’t care who your doctor is, the meds he sends will not get in. > > I knew of no inmate that was allowed to take any form of narcotic while in a pod. If they were in such pain that it absolutely required it they were transported to a secure hospital room. > > Of course, YMMV. So if I were arrested, (for whatever reason), I’d have to do without my anti-seizure drugs? (Not that I plan on getting arrested any time soon). I also had a relative who’s an alcholic who almost died when she quit drinking cold turkey. All you’d give her is Tylenol? That’s fucking barbaric. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742/24 "2015-01-26T06:12:38Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > So if I were arrested, (for whatever reason), I’d have to do without my anti-seizure drugs? (Not that I plan on getting arrested any time soon). I also had a relative who’s an alcholic who almost died when she quit drinking cold turkey. All you’d give her is Tylenol? > > That’s fucking barbaric. No, you would get your meds. Correctional facilities have contracts with pharmacies, often an independent local store, to take care of this. As for a withdrawing alcoholic or drug addict, like I said, in many cases they would be admitted to a hospital, under guard, and allowed to detox there. If a person wasn’t sent to the hospital, they would probably be given clonidine, a blood pressure medicine that is also sometimes used for this purpose. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742/25 "2015-01-26T17:35:31Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > So if I were arrested, (for whatever reason), I’d have to do without my anti-seizure drugs? (Not that I plan on getting arrested any time soon). I also had a relative who’s an alcholic who almost died when she quit drinking cold turkey. All you’d give her is Tylenol? > > That’s fucking barbaric. No. Everyone is medically screened when they come in. Any drugs that are required are given by the medical staff as prescribed by the jail doctors. Drugs brought in by “mom” are not going to be accepted or administered. At least not here they’re not. All this has been made clear throughout this thread. Inmates going into withdrawal are monitored but not given anything for it until the medical staff deems it necessary. Just saying “I’m coming off of heroin” is not going to get you methadone right then and there. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742/26 "2015-01-26T18:14:59Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > OK, I’m speaking as a primary care doc who did 15 years in the private sector (where my career included Peer Review and Risk Management), and now has done 13 years in the public sector working overseeing prison healthcare. > > First, jails are different from prison. And every jail is different, and run by the local county sheriff. Availability of health care and meds varies wildly from one to another. Some allow the family to bring in any meds which have legitimately been prescribed to the detainee, others only give what their physician/nurse practitioner deems necessary. Thanks Doc. I can add that while on the County Grand Jury, we had complaints about jail inmates not getting prescribed Meds but when we looked into them (we had a noted Cardiologist on the GJ that year) we found in every case the Jail had given the _necessary_ meds. Our MD was slightly concerned that one inmate had missed two doses of a antibiotic regime, but then saw the patient/inmate had been given “catch-up” doses and monitored. Two patient/inmates had 'scrips for codeine related painkillers, but it was pretty clear the prescriptions were either from: a well know 'scrip doctor, under investigation or Long past the time where codeine was necessary to control the pain of the dental work from over a year ago. (I think the dentist got a warning for this). I think Qadgop will agree that prescriptions for codeine related painkillers are too often given or continued long past the actual need- into the addiction period. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742/27 "2015-01-26T18:23:52Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Don’t like it? Don’t come to jail! As a police officer, I kind of thought you’d know this, but most of the people in jail are not there by choice. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742/28 "2015-01-26T18:42:39Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > As a police officer, I kind of thought you’d know this, but most of the people in jail are not there by choice. :dubious: Well, true, but most commit _the crime that gets them there_ by choice. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742/29 "2015-01-26T18:46:46Z")
You don’t have to have committed a crime to be in jail. Hell, you don’t _have_ to have committed a crime to be in prison, though it’s exponentially more likely that you have. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742/30 "2015-01-26T19:01:01Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > You don’t have to have committed a crime to be in jail. Hell, you don’t _have_ to have committed a crime to be in prison, though it’s exponentially more likely that you have. Well, yes. Some small % of those arrested aren’t guilty. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742/31 "2015-01-26T20:18:51Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > No. Everyone is medically screened when they come in. Any drugs that are required are given by the medical staff as prescribed by the jail doctors. Drugs brought in by “mom” are not going to be accepted or administered. At least not here they’re not. All this has been made clear throughout this thread… All the discussion seems to be about people who end up in jail or prison after they have filled a prescription. What happens if one is arrested while in possession of a valid, unfilled prescription? E.g. if you are arrested _on the way from your doctor’s office to the pharmacy to fill the prescription your doctor just gave you_, can you fill that prescription at the jail pharmacy, or would you have to get it re-written or at least approved by a jail doctor? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742/32 "2015-01-26T21:18:11Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > All the discussion seems to be about people who end up in jail or prison after they have filled a prescription. What happens if one is arrested while in possession of a valid, unfilled prescription? E.g. if you are arrested _on the way from your doctor’s office to the pharmacy to fill the prescription your doctor just gave you_, can you fill that prescription at the jail pharmacy, or would you have to get it re-written or at least approved by a jail doctor? When people come in to the jail (and I know this hasn’t changed as after I retired as a Deputy I took a part-time gig as a police officer and have brought people in under arrest) they are first medically screened and asked questions about health issues. Then they go through what is called “search”. In search they are completely searched (yes, even though they were searched at time of arrest) and anything they have is taken. The arresting officer turns in a sealed bag with items he took off of them. Medication is turned over to the medical staff during search. Labeled bottles help them confirm what medications the inmate is on. Just because they were prescribed something does not mean they are going to get it while locked up. Only necessary meds are rescripted by the jail med staff. ---
**Author:** ![Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/db5fbb/32.png) [@Hirka\_T\_Bawa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hirka_T_Bawa)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742/33 "2015-01-27T03:41:51Z")
In my time working as a pharmacist, I’ve had a couple county jails call me for a medication list. In one memorial case, I had a patient who was questionable (who also had legitimate prescriptions), who was arrested and spend a month in county lockup for violation of parole. I told the jail nurse all the drugs she took, including the opiates… Soon after release I heard from her sister (also a patient), that she overdosed, and died… Most likely from taking the dose that she was used to after she was no longer opiate tolerant… Key points to take from this: 1. Jails will verify all legitimate scripts, and will maintain therapy in cases of chronic therapy. 2. They wont maintain iffy pain management and opiate therapies, 3. Most people who OD on opiates are people who went without, lost their tolerance, then took the amount they used to take. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happens-when-a-person-gets-arrested/710742.md?page=1)