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| Ala. Corrections Officials Confirm TB Case in Work-Release Inmate |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 08/05/2003 |
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State corrections and health officials have refused to release details on how a work-release inmate diagnosed with tuberculosis was allowed to work at a local restaurant. Corrections officials confirmed July 31 that the inmate - whom they did not identify - worked at a Barnhill's Buffet in Mobile for about five months. They said the inmate was housed at the Mobile Work Release Facility on Beltline Highway. State health officials said they are performing tests on everyone the inmate may have encountered, including other inmates and restaurant employees. The tests could take days, even weeks or months. State health care workers said it was highly unlikely that customers who ate at Barnhill's would have been infected. The Mobile Register, which reported the inmate turberculosis case, said it follows criticisms that the corrections department has problems tracking and treating patients affected with severe diseases, including tuberculosis and HIV. A 2002 audit of the prison system said it had an unusually high number of prisoners diagnosed with tuberculosis infections, including 23 at one prison. Nancy Keenon, who supervises tuberculosis cases for the Alabama Department of Public Health, said the work-release inmate's case should serve as a wake-up call for officials. Keenon said there are about six new cases of tuberculosis reported at the prisons each year. She said inmates with active cases are assigned to a special treatment section at the Kilby Correctional Facility. She said there are several scenarios that could have led to an inmate with active tuberculosis being allowed to work outside a prison in a work-release program. Prison officials refused to comment on any of those scenarios until the supervisor of tuberculosis surveillance programs returns from vacation. |
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