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| Michigan ex-prison workers blame state for HCV |
| By Lansing State Journal |
| Published: 10/13/2003 |
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Three retired Michigan prison workers infected with hepatitis C have accused the state of neglecting their health and risking the safety of all corrections employees who could contract the potentially fatal virus. The workers, two officers and a former teacher's aide to state prisoners, said this month that the Michigan Department of Corrections has known for years of a growing problem with the virus spreading among inmates and officers and has done little to stop it. Dee Reeder, a former captain at Riverside Correctional Facility in Ionia, and the other two women say there's no way they could have gotten the virus other than from work. The women say they have never used IV drugs or had a blood transfusion. Their bodies are free of tattoos and piercings. And all say they have been in long-term monogamous relationships. Their only risk factor for the virus, they say: working inside prisons, where a third of all hepatitis C cases exist. The three feel powerless, scared, resentful and sick from a disease responsible for 8,000 to 10,000 deaths a year. Between 12,000 and 18,000 of Michigan's 48,800 prisoners are believed to harbor the hepatitis C virus. Yet the state - citing cost and effectiveness of available drugs - is treating just 55. Prison officials say they don't know how many officers are infected. Corrections spokesman Leo LaLonde said the department does everything it can to protect workers by testing them if they've been exposed to inmate blood. The state provides extensive training to staff to prevent transmission of bloodborne pathogens, including hepatitis C, he said. But Reeder and the other two retirees say the state isn't doing enough. They're angry about their illness and want the department to admit it has a health-care crisis. They feel abandoned by the employer to whom they were loyal for 10 to 25 years. And they worry about other officers. Hepatitis C is transmitted through blood, most often through dirty drug needles. But it also can be spread through unprotected sex, nonsterilized hygiene products and occupational hazards for health care and public safety workers. |
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