‘You either love it or hate it’: meet the pharmacist who wants to change the perception of prison pharmacy

Kaniksha Aggarwal launched the Prison Pharmacy Connect group in June 2024. She tells C+D how an upcoming podcast series will debunk what it’s like to work in a prison…
‘You either love it or hate it’: meet the pharmacist who wants to change the perception of prison pharmacy
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Pharmacist Kaniksha Aggarwal wants to change the perception of what it’s like working in prison pharmacy. Keen to “beat the stigma” around working in a prison, she’s launching a podcast with Prison Pharmacy Connect to debunk what the work is like.  

“I thought it’d be a really good way to bring this sector to the forefront, to stand alongside community, hospital and industry,” she says. "We don’t really know what happens in prisons unless we speak to the people that are actually there."

Read more: Serving life as a prison pharmacist

She says prison pharmacy is a mix of primary care, with the “dispensary element” of community pharmacy and “screening of prescriptions” that happens in hospital combined with “seeing people face to face in clinics” which feeds into multidisciplinary teamwork alongside doctors and mental health professionals. 

Understanding 

Aggarwal is looking to attract and inform the cohort of pharmacists who will qualify as independent prescribers in September 2026 as “it’s important they know about the sector, so we can get more people into the sector". 

“They need an understanding of what it’s like in prison, how limited the resources are, how we function”. She says inmates are “still a patient at the end of the day, they are coming to you for help.” 

She says recruitment can be “challenging” if people are not comfortable with being confined within a prison, dealing with security measures, and feeling intimidated. 

Read more: Astropharmacy: taking medication into space is not as simple as it seems

But Aggarwal says you either “love it or hate it” and “it’s not as bad” as you may think. 

“We are not prison officers, we are healthcare staff,” she says. “People in prison see healthcare staff differently compared to prison officers. You might have the odd situation, instances of altercations, but it’s not usually directed to healthcare staff, it might be directed to their peers or officers.  

“All those things for an officer are much harder, whereas for healthcare, it’s one thing that people in prison have control over. They don’t have control over when they shower, they’ve got to wait for their door to be unlocked. But when they come for healthcare, they can be like “I’ve got this problem, I need your help”."

Abuse 

Aside from housing criminals, prison life has become synonymous with illicit drug use which can lead to substance abuse.  

It’s something which a dedicated service manages rather than the prison pharmacy, but Aggarwal says if there “is a concern, we are informed”. 

She does say they “need to consider whether certain things can be traded or manipulated” from the medication they prescribe. 

Read more: Life on ‘White Mars’: Is there pharmacy in Antarctica?

For example, salbutamol inhalers can be used to put drugs inside them, but Aggarwal explains you “can’t just say no” if a prisoner is asthmatic and needs it. “If something happens to them, it’s going to be your head. 

“We do check people at risk of trading or diverting meds, but the way people perceive it in prisons, it’s not quite the same. 

“To what extent can you deny people medicines? A lot of people in prison have experienced some sort of trauma in their childhood and they’ve not been able to fix that, and it’s led them down the wrong path further and deeper and they need just the right care.” 

Read more: ‘It was amazing!’: Olympics lead pharmacist on dispensing to the world’s best athletes

She recalls standing in to complete a medicine reconciliation for a prisoner and prescribing him sleeping tablets, and a week later he thanked her for the level of care she had given to him. 

“He said it made a massive difference and "I’m doing much better now". You have a good rapport with them. 

“The most important part of that is, if you cannot help someone, you make sure you go back and tell them. That tends to earn you a lot of respect because they know who you are, you’re open and transparent with them.” 

Read more: Pharmacists will play 'important role' in prisoner release

Aggarwal admits “so many questions can go in your head” when working with criminals but remains steadfast in her job “to provide the care” a prison pharmacist offers. 

Alongside her podcast she also wants to help more MPharm students access work experience in prisons, something she did herself during her studies. 

““Some people just need a little bit more help with navigating that field. Where do they look? How do they go about it?  

“There really isn’t anything for prison pharmacy professionals that connects them. A lot of people in the pharmacy sector don’t know about us. So that's what I'm trying to do.” 

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