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“How can I help you?” asked John, as he sat in his cell while his cellmates were out helping other inmates earn their GEDs.
“Doc, I’ve been having sharp pain in my back and chest,” said Leroy, a sixty-year-old inmate who had been incarcerated since the age of twenty-one.
John pulled out his stethoscope and said, “Let me have a listen.” John stole the stethoscope from the infirmary when one of the nurses wasn’t looking. He’d been working as a prison doctor off the books for the past three months. Everyone in prison needs a doctor, and it was rare to have an Ivy League-educated cardiologist incarcerated. The staffing cuts at the prison meant that there were fewer personnel available to see the inmates. The doctors and staff had to prioritize and focus on inmates with chronic conditions
