|
Just two days after Center attorneys filed a new lawsuit seeking adequate medical care for Alabama's sick inmates, their lead plaintiff died, apparently from an untreated breathing problem he had endured for years. Jerry Baker, 63, was found dead in his cell at St. Clair Correctional Facility, where a gross lack of adequate medical care has caused inmates to suffer serious harm.
"I'm not surprised, but I am upset," said Rhonda Brownstein, the Center's legal director. "We had seen Mr. Baker just a week before his death, and he was wasting away. He would not have been in such bad shape had he been receiving proper treatment." Baker lost 40 pounds last year, and the cause of his weight loss wasn't investigated.
Baker vs. Campbell, filed in federal court on May 13, is a class action on behalf of seriously ill inmates housed at St. Clair, the state prison designated to treat chronically sick inmates.
Dangerous lapses in the provision of necessary medication and medical supplies at the facility have caused inmates to suffer severe pain. Cancer patients, for example, often receive pain medication sporadically or not at all. Inmates who need dentures must wait months and sometimes even years to receive them. Jerry Baker, the inmate who recently died, had been forced to live with only 12 teeth in his mouth — the dentures he wore had been broken for over a year.
Critical shortages harm inmates
The facility has a critical shortage of qualified medical personnel and long delays in proper diagnosis and treatment. Dying inmates unable to control their bowels sometimes go for hours without being changed or cleaned.
In Alabama, which far outranks most other states in inmate death rates and is last in the country in per-inmate spending on health care, St. Clair isn't the only prison with serious medical care problems.
Gaddis vs. Campbell, another class action suit filed in April by the Center, addresses the inadequate care of diabetics in prisons across Alabama. Because of the state's indifference to their chronic illness, diabetic inmates have suffered serious complications, including blurred vision, amputations of the toes, possible kidney damage, dizziness and pain.
While visiting prisons across the state, Center attorneys found that many diabetics had their blood sugar levels tested only once every few months, even though diabetics should have their sugar tested several times daily. There are no special diets provided to diabetic inmates.
"Diabetes is a complex and very serious illness that requires daily attention," Brownstein said. "When diabetics are not educated about their condition or given the attention they need, their health — and their lives — are put in serious jeopardy."
The two lawsuits reflect the Center legal staff's goal to protect society's most vulnerable members, including institutionalized persons.
SPLC Report
June 2003
|
