Personal Narrative: My Trip To Dominica Prison Service

On Saturday, September 24, I had the opportunity to visit the Dominica Prison Service in Rosseau. I had been to other clinics in Portsmouth and Roseau in the previous semesters, however this time, it was in a prison. I had never seen or visited a prison before, except in movies so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. When I told my parents, they told me to be careful. A friend had suggested this clinic, and had described it to be a very different experience which intrigued me to go. When we arrived at the prison, we were taken to a room, where we put all our belongings in a locker, and grabbed our medical supplies. We were divided into three groups, one for women, one for the general population, and one for maximum security. I was put in the maximum security group. First, we were taken to the chapel hall where some general …show more content…
They were all seated on one side, so we were all asked to organize a table with our supplies across in the middle of the room. As we were about to start, a portion of us were told that the group for maximum security should follow the officers to a different building in a corner. The room they took us in was old, had two chairs and a table in the middle. We set up our equipment, and decided to do an assembly style assessment, where each person does one thing. The guards started to bring out the patients, but it was one at a time for security reasons. As the first patient came out, I noticed he was in a yellow jumpsuit, and handcuffed. My role was to check the blood sugar. I was a little nervous, and placed the test strip backwards. To make matters worse I was confused as to what was happening. I got more nervous, and started perspiring. I thought the patient would get mad and start yelling at me. I didn't know what he was in for, especially in maximum security. Also, I didn’t know what his reaction would be, but to my surprise he was very calm. A moment later, one of my fellow