Sentenced To Diabetes in Prison

Arnold Barnes describes how a typical prison diet leads to a whole host of new medical problems, including diabetes.

Come to prison healthy, leave a diabetic. At least, you might if you get sentenced to the Texas Department of Corrections (TDC).

I’m not sure exactly what my civil rights are, but I know a systematic practice and deprivation of my constitutional rights when I see one. I say “systematic practice” because residents aren’t actually being injected with the illness known as diabetes, but instead being fed a high-carbohydrate diet containing lots of starches (potatoes, bread, pasta, etc.) accompanied with being forced into sedentary behavior, and you get diabetes.

Lately there have been many residents who have been notified by the medical staff that they are diabetic or prediabetic, an elevated blood sugar condition that without intervention typically progresses to full-blown type II diabetes.

Here in my possession is a list of “foods to avoid” that was given to an inmate who was recently notified of his newfound medical condition, diabetes. Yet amazingly, these foods to avoid are exactly what’s being served to us daily. We’re served pancakes five days a week for breakfast and eat noodles or white rice (beef noodle casserole, pork noodle casserole, tuna casserole, beef chili mac, pork chili mac, mac and cheese, beef dirty rice, pork dirty rice) every day of the week.

Alarming evidence published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is consistent with the numerous residents with high blood sugar levels. “The body breaks carbohydrates down into sugar. Bagels, sandwiches and pasta all break down quickly in the gut. The resulting flood of sugar into the blood stream forces the pancreas to pump out large amounts of insulin to clear it. Over time the body can become less sensitive to this rush of insulin leading to insulin resistance and if left unchecked type II diabetes.”

But if the abundance of carbs doesn’t have an ill effect on the heath of a loved one within TDC, their “sit down” policy surely will. The Administrative Directives Building Schedule Policy clearly explains that to come out of our cells (1-hour ingress, egress) for our basic human needs—recreation, clean clothing, and three meals—we must remain seated for at least six hours. We are being coerced by threat of discipline to “remain seated at all times” on uncompassionate stainless steel stools without back support when outside of our cells.

A compendium of studies published this year by CNN, New York Times, Medical News Today, and the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that sitting for prolonged periods raises the relative risk of type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease over 100%. Kidney disease, elevated blood sugar, and lumbar spine stiffness, according to a publication from Harvard Medical School. Circulatory problems (that I suffer from with nerve damage), abnormal cholesterol levels, and metabolic consequences, says the Mayo Foundation for Medical Educational Research. Worse, an American Cancer Society study finds that women who sit for more than six hours a day were about 40% more likely to die than women who sat fewer than three hours per day.

So this “sit down” policy is even more harmful to female residents of TDC, not to mention its sizable elderly and disabled population. Diabetes and a host of other maladies incurred by these practices is chronic, meaning that residents will need specialized medical care, not just for the remainder of their sentence but for the rest of their lives! This unusual practice not only causes unnecessary pain and suffering to residents but is also a burden on an already taxed TDC medical budget.

Also in accord is an article published by Time magazine: “Diabetes, ninety percent of which were type II, cost the U.S. health care industry about $245 billion.”

So not only should family members of residents of TDC be concerned, but because of the cost associated with medical treatment—evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, follow-ups, etc. — so should tax payers. This practice is dangerous to the health of the men and women who traverse these doors, and I personally take this matter so seriously that I am considering going on another hunger strike so the state will force-feed me a diet that won’t cause my saliva to become more acidic and increase my chances of developing cavities and gum disease.

Arnold Barnes III
Telford Unit
P.O. Box 660400
Dallas, TX 75266

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