Safe communications
"Most of the prisoners here are men and we nurses are women. Some will have committed violent crimes. The first thing we learn is how to communicate with them safely," Zhu Rong said.
"It is impossible to examine a patient without touching them at some stage," Zhu said. "But you have to be careful. You cannot get too close to prisoners but you cannot not touch them."
Liu Yan is a nurse at the hospital. The 34-year-old had worked as a nurse in a PLA (People's Liberation Army) hospital for 12 years before transferring to the prison hospital in 2007. "All the patients in my ward are men. When I walked through the hospital for the first time, I felt all of those eyes staring at me from behind the bars, glaring with hostility. It freaked me out.
"At first, I didn't dare look at or talk to any of the patients. I just did my work. I am more relaxed now and I talk to some of the patients but I am careful - they are criminals, not ordinary sick people. You can sit on their beds and talk to them but there are boundaries," she said.
Every inch of the prison hospital is under round-the-clock surveillance recording every movement and conversation of staff and inmates. The cameras are there not just to check on the prisoners but to ensure that the doctors and nurses were performing their duties appropriately, Zhu Rong said.
"The media has reported many cases of law enforcement officers behaving improperly or negligently. So the cameras and recorders are not only to supervise but also to provide evidence if needed. If a prisoner is dying and his relatives cannot make it here in time, the surveillance film can show that we tried our best. It is easier for relatives to accept the situation instead of having suspicions about a death," Jiang said.
When doctors at general hospitals come across a difficult case or a rare disease and are uncertain about treatment, they can send the patient to see a specialist in a leading hospital. It's not so easy when the patient is a prisoner. And for different reasons, public hospitals are not willing to admit these patients.
"When you treat the patients here, you have to do your own research or consult specialists from elsewhere. We have to be prepared for difficulties and we try to give the best treatment possible under the circumstances," Jiang said.
Xie Xufeng is a surgeon at the prison hospital. The 39-year-old has been working there since 2004. "Patients infected with HIV/AIDS are not given surgery at ordinary hospitals. But surgery on HIV/AIDS patients is routine work here."
It is a principle here that prisoners should not die accidentally in the hospital. Sometimes there are bizarre outcomes as this principle is enforced. One man who was seriously ill and dying had been sentenced to death. When it was discovered he might die in the hospital, the death penalty appeal procedure was hastened so that the man was executed rather than being allowed to die in the hospital.
"Death is unavoidable in a hospital. But in a prison hospital, death is always prohibited," said Xie.
Seasonal migration of Chinese left-behind children
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