Karen Gedney was sometimes called an “inmate lover” for the compassion she had for the prisoners under her care, which was supposed to be insulting.
However, for her, it was all worth it when the prisoners would tell her how much she had changed their lives.
“You know not even my mother believed in me, you do,” Dr. Gedney said during a recent interview with Our Town Reno, tearing up and recalling an inmate who after serving his sentence blossomed and got his master’s degree and is now a chief financial officer at a company.
Gedney’s memories filled a book called 30 Years Behind Bars and there are so many to choose from.
Her second year, she remembers, she was asked to request the drugs for an execution.
“That is not what I’m here for as a physician,” she said. “I was put there by the federal government to give health care, nowhere did it say I was to be a part of killing someone. I said no, I would not do it, it was against my Hippocratic Oath and in no way part of my career.”
A screengrab from her website.
Having fewer people in prisons should be one of the main goals of our society, with the United States having the highest incarceration rate in the world. Gedney advocates for mentoring programs like Big Brothers, Big Sisters and the Boys & Girls Club.
“They can enable a mentor to be with a kid and can change the kid's life because they see a whole other experience, but also a person who really truly cares,” she said.
She herself, with her late husband, mentored a handful of children who had at least one of their parents incarcerated.
These children now mostly lead successful lives and some have college degrees and even their own houses at very young ages.
“I think that society should be set up more in that prevention mode. Schools are unfortunately not really heavily funded for that, but they could be in terms of helping kids after school, in terms of programs, that enable them to get a little bit more help so they can keep up with other children. And the biggest piece is for society to be part of a solution, instead of complaining when the child spins into juvie and then into prisons,” she said.
She said prison reform gets talked about but then never goes far enough, and the same goes for what she calls “prevention.”
“There's so many pieces that could be improved if society was interested in prevention. Unfortunately, politicians tend to like to push a fear button in terms of get tough on crime and put people in prison. And then if someone leaves prison and messes up, that's what they showcase. They don't showcase the energy that goes into preventing people from entering prison or from going back to prisons.”
Gedney dealt with horrific trauma herself. “The most challenging experience I faced in the prison was being held hostage by an inmate on Friday the 13th October 1989. He was one of my patients. Being assaulted and raped by that inmate, and then seeing him killed by the SWAT team affected me emotionally, and made me doubt myself. I had to deal with shock, anger and then find forgiveness,” is written on her website.
Self-care is advice she wants to give young people today. Dr. Gedney’s method is to spend time outdoors and exercising. Laughter was also the best medicine for her own well being. She recalls many funny moments with inmates and other medical staff.
“I never laughed so hard in my life because we used humor to keep us up instead of complaining all the time,” she said.
In between leisure trips, like a recent one to Iceland, Gedney is also a frequent speaker, guest on podcasts, and a constant cheerleader for the incarcerated and the formerly incarcerated, reminding us to give them all time, care, generosity, love and space to help them redirect their lives and become productive members of society.