Decatur Daily Friday February 28, 2003
Observer: State prison HIV care 'inhumane'
By Deangelo McDaniel and Holly Hollman
DAILY Staff Writers
dmcdaniel@decaturdaily.com
CAPSHAW - A paralegal for the Southern Center for Human Rights said
conditions for dispensing medication to HIV-positive inmates at
Limestone Correctional Facility are inhumane and deplorable.
Armed with an order from a federal judge, Lisa Zahren and a
photographer were allowed this morning to film how prison officials
hand out medication to HIV inmates.
"It's absolutely shocking that they wake up people who are sick at 3
a.m. and make them wait outside to get medication," Zahren said.
The Southern Center filed the lawsuit in November in the Northern
District Court of Alabama on behalf of five HIV-positive inmates.
The
lawsuit, in part, alleges that the state denies adequate medical
treatment to AIDS inmates.
The state houses all its known HIV-positive inmates at Limestone
Correctional Facility.
Warden Billy Mitchem would not allow a DAILY reporter to tour the
AIDS area because of the ongoing lawsuit.
Zahren said they had to get permission from a federal judge to film
the medication dispensing process. She and the photographer arrived
at the facility this morning at about 2:30 before guards woke
inmates
at 3.
The inmates stand outside in a line, some for as long as 45 minutes,
to receive their medication, Zahren said.
One inmate, an amputee, was in a wheelchair, she said.
"I had on proper clothing, and I was cold," the paralegal said. "We
could see that some of the inmates were cold."
Zahren said prison officials required the inmates to take their
medication at the window.
She said giving medication in this manner does more harm than good
because the Food and Drug Administration requires patients to take
some of their AIDS medicine with food.
"This morning, they served breakfast after pill call, but the
inmates
had already taken the pills," Zahren said.
She added: "This is one of the most outrageous things I have ever
heard of...how they wake sick prisoners up in the middle of the
night
to make them stand in line outside in the cold for an hour to
receive
their medication."
An audit of the facility supports some of the claims in the lawsuit.
Jacqueline Moore and Associates of Chicago visited Limestone
Correctional Facility on Oct. 1 and Nov. 8.
The company said the death rate of AIDS-infected inmates is more
than twice the national average.
The Birmingham-based company NaphCare is the prison's health
management contractor. Company President Lee Harrison called the
audit misleading. He said the death rate for AIDS inmates is
actually
one-third the rate for the general population.
The audit said Limestone houses AIDS inmates in an old warehouse
with
high, leaky ceilings and double bunk quarters that foster infection.
Mitchem has said the warehouse is a solid building that was
renovated
in 1994 or 1995.
The audit also said chronic-care inmates go as long as seven to
eight
months without seeing a doctor.
Zahren's organization, which is based in Atlanta, filed the lawsuit
after the audit reported that health care at the HIV prison at
Capshaw was "dangerous and extremely poor."
Observer: State prison HIV care 'inhumane'
By Deangelo McDaniel and Holly Hollman
DAILY Staff Writers
dmcdaniel@decaturdaily.com
CAPSHAW - A paralegal for the Southern Center for Human Rights said
conditions for dispensing medication to HIV-positive inmates at
Limestone Correctional Facility are inhumane and deplorable.
Armed with an order from a federal judge, Lisa Zahren and a
photographer were allowed this morning to film how prison officials
hand out medication to HIV inmates.
"It's absolutely shocking that they wake up people who are sick at 3
a.m. and make them wait outside to get medication," Zahren said.
The Southern Center filed the lawsuit in November in the Northern
District Court of Alabama on behalf of five HIV-positive inmates.
The
lawsuit, in part, alleges that the state denies adequate medical
treatment to AIDS inmates.
The state houses all its known HIV-positive inmates at Limestone
Correctional Facility.
Warden Billy Mitchem would not allow a DAILY reporter to tour the
AIDS area because of the ongoing lawsuit.
Zahren said they had to get permission from a federal judge to film
the medication dispensing process. She and the photographer arrived
at the facility this morning at about 2:30 before guards woke
inmates
at 3.
The inmates stand outside in a line, some for as long as 45 minutes,
to receive their medication, Zahren said.
One inmate, an amputee, was in a wheelchair, she said.
"I had on proper clothing, and I was cold," the paralegal said. "We
could see that some of the inmates were cold."
Zahren said prison officials required the inmates to take their
medication at the window.
She said giving medication in this manner does more harm than good
because the Food and Drug Administration requires patients to take
some of their AIDS medicine with food.
"This morning, they served breakfast after pill call, but the
inmates
had already taken the pills," Zahren said.
She added: "This is one of the most outrageous things I have ever
heard of...how they wake sick prisoners up in the middle of the
night
to make them stand in line outside in the cold for an hour to
receive
their medication."
An audit of the facility supports some of the claims in the lawsuit.
Jacqueline Moore and Associates of Chicago visited Limestone
Correctional Facility on Oct. 1 and Nov. 8.
The company said the death rate of AIDS-infected inmates is more
than twice the national average.
The Birmingham-based company NaphCare is the prison's health
management contractor. Company President Lee Harrison called the
audit misleading. He said the death rate for AIDS inmates is
actually
one-third the rate for the general population.
The audit said Limestone houses AIDS inmates in an old warehouse
with
high, leaky ceilings and double bunk quarters that foster infection.
Mitchem has said the warehouse is a solid building that was
renovated
in 1994 or 1995.
The audit also said chronic-care inmates go as long as seven to
eight
months without seeing a doctor.
Zahren's organization, which is based in Atlanta, filed the lawsuit
after the audit reported that health care at the HIV prison at
Capshaw was "dangerous and extremely poor."
