PRISON NURSE
Mayhem, Murder and Medicine
12/2019
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Correctionaly yours,
Ellen Kane -Prison Nurse
Follow Nurse Kane into your first Maximum-Security penitentiary as she introduces you to a living, breathing subculture of 1400 incarcerated men at Stillwater State Prison. Meet her characters…criminals: the good the bad and the mentally ill. Learn why she worked there for ten years and still states it was the best nursing job she ever had. Her stories are compelling, horrific, funny, and sad. Unless you’d rather commit a major felony and see for yourself, this is your chance to peek inside a cell hall, get intimate with a few inmates and learn what it’s like to be a prison nurse.
A quick peek from the inside…
Bonsai
Next to the Health Services building was a greenhouse, where inside there was a sponsored Bonsai program. The inmates’ newspaper, called The Prison Mirror, reported it was called the MCF-Stillwater Bonsai Club and was sponsored by the Minnesota Bonsai Society. The Japanese term Bonsai literally means “planted in a container,” but the art form of creating a bonsai tree stems from an ancient Chinese practice, which evolved under the influence of Japanese Zen Buddhism. The bonsai tree basically represents peace, balance, and harmony and all that is good in the world. There were eleven members who nurtured one hundred or so miniature trees, shrubs, and other plants in this club, which also had a board of directors, president, vice president, secretary and treasurer. The club’s goal was to become self-sufficient by selling their quality trees outside the prison walls. One member said, in a Prison Mirror article, that working on his trees was like an escape from regular prison life. And the consensus among the active members was that this provided an excellent opportunity for the individual to work toward self-rehabilitation, to learn respect, concern, communication, and relationship development.
Until one day, there was an attempted murder in the greenhouse.
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING…
Reviewed by Keyla Damaer for Readers’ Favorite
Prison Nurse: Mayhem,
Murder and Medicine by Ellen Kane is a memoir of the author’s experiences as a
nurse working in a correctional center. Through her personal experiences and
memories of events that happened to others, the reader learns about bad men
doing bad things, but mostly good men doing bad things. As a divorced woman and
a single mother, Kane found this job close to her heart, at first in
substitution for another nurse on maternity leave and for the night shift. Even
though she was not enthusiastic about the opening offered, she accepted knowing
that once inside she had more chances for other openings. As a matter of fact,
she was right: after some time she moved to the evening shift.
As someone who has worked as a volunteer in the correctional system of my
country, I was delighted to read this memoir by Ellen Kane. Prison Nurse:
Mayhem, Murder and Medicine is a recollection of real events that happened
between 1985 and 1995 in the Stillwater State Prison in Minnesota. In a
refreshing style, Kane introduces the reader to a system of locked doors and
bars where life is not easy, not only for the permanent residents but also for
the employees. Through her eyes, we witness the evolution of the American correctional
system from rehabilitation centers to warehouses, to stocking inmates like in
an overbooked hotel. Despite the tough subject, I read the book in two days and
was almost disappointed when I realized it was over.
“I really enjoyed Ellen Kane’s essays. Such a powerful set of experiences. So glad Ellen is writing them and sharing them.” –Chesa Boudin, Deputy Public Defender has been a leader in San Francisco and across the country for fundamental criminal justice reform. A Yale Law School graduate and Rhodes scholar his greatest education was from his parents, both inmates. Chesa Boudin candidate for District Attorney, San Francisco-2019
“Ellen Kane introduces us to the real lives of convicted felons and prison inmates. Her compelling tales from Stillwater State Prison remind the reader that humanity resides in the heart of nursing. For me personally, the detailed imagery transported me right back to the days when I visited my own father in the exact same prison where Kane served as a nurse for ten years.” — Claudine Cooper, author of 25 to Life