She doesn't blame the physician for her problems, though.
"I allowed myself to become addicted," she said, adding she drifted away from her family. "It was painful for them."
Russell said she didn't realize it was a crime to take the pain pills until she was arrested in 2001 in Boone County.
Real pain came from withdrawl
The real pain came after the arrest as she withdrew from the drugs. "The first 30 days were really bad physical torture. I was shaking and, physically, my body was sick. I vomited. Then there were mental problems," said Russell.
Russell received five years in prison in November 2002 on a theft by unlawful taking charge for obtaining extra prescriptions from her physician.
After doing time at state prisons at Otter Creek and Pewee Valley, she ended up at the Casey County Detention Center earlier this year.
She worked at the local senior citizens center where she helped with meals and housekeeping. When the center held a program to educate seniors about drug abuse, Russell spoke about her addiction.
She said it gave her peace of mind to help the older adults.
Russell was looking forward to getting out of prison and going home to be with her husband and three children, ages 6, 9 and 12.
"I'm grateful that I'm not on pills anymore. I have gotten away from the poor, poor, pitiful me," she said. "I want to go home and prove I've changed," she said.
Now in Fulton County jail
After this interview, though, Russell was transferred out of the Casey County jail to the Fulton County Detention Center in western Kentucky. Casey Jailer Tommy Miller said she was moved about a month ago because she obtained pills from an outside source.
"Up to that time, she had not been any trouble."
