CW: Incarceration & Drug Use
Born in Brooklyn, Donovan Bryant grew up in the inner city amid the crack cocaine crisis. One of the few members of his family who wasn’t involved in criminal behavior or addicted to drugs was his grandma. She was an employee in the mail room at Brooklyn College. She was the most stable person in his life and provided him with a roof over his head.
His grandmother died of cancer in 1992. Bryant was just eight years old. Years later, he became involved in criminal activity.
He ended up in various foster homes, group homes, and juvenile institutions. At times, he was homeless. Bryant earned his GED, but his time at community college didn’t last long. He began engaging in criminal activity once again.
He was shot in the back shortly before leaving to serve with the United States Army. Being injured motivated Bryant to engage even more in criminal activity. He was angry. He wanted to prove people wrong.
Prior to his arrest Bryant had an apartment and a vehicle. To make ends meet, he sold firearms illegally.
In an article in New Mobility, Bryant describes what led to his arrest. “I didn’t know anything about [lawful] careers, like being a gunsmith or acquiring a license to sell or import guns, until after I started selling guns illegally. If I would have seen the movie War Dogs about how people were entering into contracts to legally sell guns to the U.S. military, I would have surely looked into going that route. In 2015, when I was 29, I got arrested. The charge was illegal gun sales, conspiracy, and weapons possession. I was sentenced to 12 years in prison with no possibility of parole.”
Bryant is one of approximately 800,000 disabled inmates in the United States. Disabled people make up around two-thirds of the state and federal prison population in the US based on data from the 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates. An estimated 56.0% of inmates reported having a nonpsychiatric disability and 40.4% reported having a psychiatric disability.
Disabled people frequently lack access to necessary medical treatment, supports, services, and accommodations while incarcerated. This is true even though all disabled inmates must have equal access to programs, services, and activities under long-standing federal disability rights laws.
In addition to making pre-existing conditions worse, unfavorable jail and prison circumstances, as well as limited access to medical care and mental health treatment, can cause pre-incarcerated people to develop new physical and mental health issues.
For Bryant even getting a wheelchair repaired is difficult. Bryant is nearly a decade into his sentence. Initially, he was sent to Rikers Island. The bearings on his Quickie manual wheelchair were worn out. Wheelchair repair companies don’t exist in prison.
He has been at Walsh Regional Medical Unit since 2017. It is supposed to be a temporary place for those who are near death or who need medical treatment. However, Bryant experiences chronic urinary tract infections and pressure ulcers due to his injury.
A urinary tract infection (UTI) is a bacterial infection that infiltrates the otherwise sterile urinary system and is one of the most frequent bacterial infections worldwide. Urinary tract infections (UTIs) include infections of the urethra (urethritis), bladder (cystitis), ureters (ureteritis), and kidney (pyelonephritis).
Pressure sores are also known as decubitus ulcers. They are injuries to the skin and underlying tissue caused by a blockage of blood flow caused by pressure on the skin.
Bryant has a suprapubic catheter. During a suprapubic catheterization, a drainage tube is inserted into the bladder right above the pubic symphysis. This procedure is usually carried out for those who are unable to empty their bladder through the urethra.
When other techniques are not clinically available, desired, or feasible, suprapubic catheterization provides an other way to empty the bladder. For male patients with chronic catheter needs, suprapubic tubes are generally seen as being more comfortable, easier to change, and available in nearly any size.
Urethral catheterization, intermittent catheterization, urine diversion, and percutaneous nephrostomy drainage are substitutes for suprapubic catheterization. These specialized drainage catheters are usually inserted publicly or percutaneously. Cystoscopy is frequently used for visualization in percutaneous access procedures.
According to The Journal of The American Medical Association, a cystoscopy is a visual examination of the urethra and bladder. During a cystoscopy, the lining of the bladder and urethra are examined using a tiny telescope equipped with a camera known as a cystoscope. Cystoscopy can be done in a variety of locations, such as an operating room or a doctor’s office, while under general or sedative anesthesia or topical pain medication (a numbing jelly in the urethra).
Walsh Regional Medical Unit provides 24-hour medical care. They also provide physical and occupational therapy. The unit even has a wheelchair-accessible scale.
Bryant says that the accessibility is decent. Wheelchair users must have good upper body function. If you can’t transfer independently it is not a good fit.
Bryant is eligible for release in 2025 if he behaves well and participates in prison programs. He wants to interact with the disability community once he’s out. Prior to his incarceration, he never interacted much with the disability community.
In the United States, there are thousands of disabled people who are incarcerated. Jails and prisons are usually ill-equipped to meet the needs of disabled inmates. There should be more awareness about disability within our criminal justice system.
Sources:
Bixby, Laurin, et al. ‘The Links Between Disability, Incarceration, And Social Exclusion’. Health Affairs, vol. 41, no. 10, Health Affairs, Oct. 2022, pp. 1460–1469, https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2022.00495.
Barber, Amelia E., et al. ‘Urinary Tract Infections: Current and Emerging Management Strategies’. Clinical Infectious Diseases, vol. 57, no. 5, Sept. 2013, pp. 719–724, https://doi.org10.1093/cid/cit284.
Bryant, Donovan. “Life on Wheels behind Bars.” New Mobility, New Mobility, 16 Sept. 2024, newmobility.com/life-on-wheels-behind-bars/.
Leigh, Irene H., and G. Bennett. ‘Pressure Ulcers: Prevalence, Etiology, and Treatment Modalities: A Review’. The American Journal of Surgery, vol. 167, no. 1, Supplement, Jan. 1994, pp. S25–S30, https://doi.org10.1016/0002-9610(94)90007-8.
Matulewicz, Richard S., et al. ‘Cystoscopy’. JAMA, vol. 317, no. 11, Mar. 2017, pp. 1187–1187, https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2017.0364.
Romo, Paholo G. Barboglio, et al. ‘Non-Surgical Urologic Management of Neurogenic Bladder after Spinal Cord Injury’. World Journal of Urology, vol. 36, no. 10, Oct. 2018, pp. 1555–1568, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00345-018-2419-z.
Vallas, Rebecca. “Disabled behind Bars.” Center for American Progress, Center for American Progress, July 2024, http://www.americanprogress.org/article/disabled-behind-bars/.