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| Prison staff, inmates exposed to tuberculosis |
| By The Decatur Daily |
| Published: 02/09/2004 |
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More than a dozen inmates and staff members at Limestone Correctional Facility in Alabama have been exposed to tuberculosis. Lisa Zahren, a paralegal with the Southern Center for Human Rights, an Atlanta-based law firm representing HIV-positive prisoners in a lawsuit, said the Alabama Department of Public Health started testing Jan. 19. Skin tests showed 11 inmates and four officers have been exposed. This does not mean they have an active case, she said. Brian Corbett, spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections, confirmed that 11 inmates have been exposed. He did not know how many officers were exposed. Corbett said the Department of Public Health is testing those in the HIV unit because an HIV inmate who died last year had an active case of tuberculosis. Zahren said the department did skin tests, chest X-rays and sputum tests. The sputum test results will not be available for eight weeks. She said part of the problem is that the HIV unit was an open warehouse for about 300 male inmates. That allowed infections to spread, she said. Because of her organization's lawsuit, DOC reported to the Legislature's Joint Prison Committee that it moved HIV-positive prisoners into modular buildings with two-man cells. Zahren said the lawsuit is in mediation and parties involved will go before a federal judge next week, possibly to set a trial date. She said she still receives complaints that inmates are not receiving adequate medical care. |
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