The secret to quality medical care for prisoners is hiring people who really want to work behind the walls, says Jamie Molina, a Licensed Vocational Nurse at San Quentin’s medical facility.
“I’m very fortunate to be an LVN within the department. I love working with my health care team. I know at this point, I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else. That’s what I would say to the receiver. ‘Get people who really want to be here.’”
“When I graduated from nursing school, I swore to render care and asked no questions about those under my care,” said Molina. “I’m not here to decide who does or does not get care. I take my oath about caring for everyone very seriously, especially for those in blue.”
Molina’s career began in 2007, with a three-year stint at Pelican Bay.
He grew up in the rough and gang-infested neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Molina says he feels lucky to get out of that environment, adding that working in the prison’s medical department is his way of giving back to the community.
He credits his success for overcoming the odds of getting away from that negative environment to his parents.
“It was stable in that I had two parents,” he said. “My father was pretty intelligent. He had a scholarship to go to Jalisco, Mexico for medical school, but he never pursued it.”
He now realizes that his father’s decision not to go to Mexico created his stable upbringing. “Most people in prison don’t have that kind of support,” Molina commented.
Molina compared the high stress atmosphere of Pelican Bay to San Quentin’s high level of programs available to prisoners, and commented, “If the rest of California prisons mimicked the programs available at San Quentin, some of the problems with our high recidivism will be solved.”
–JulianGlenn Padgett contributed to this story.
