Prisoners with hepatitis C sue California prisons

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Prisoners with hepatitis C sue California prisons

By SHAYA TAYEFE MOHAJER, Associated Press Writer

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

(07-08) 20:12 PDT Los Angeles, CA (AP) --

California prisoners infected with hepatitis C aren't getting the health care

they need while they're behind bars, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S.

District Court on Tuesday.

The filing estimates that as many as 40 percent of the state's inmates are

infected. About 30,000 are expected to report difficulty getting adequate care,

which is why the suit seeks class-action status, said Khorrami, the

prisoners' lawyer.

" This is a nasty, nasty disease, " said Khorrami. " We don't allow this kind of

punishment in America, where someone has a disease and we have them suffer from

it and have all kinds of problems going forward in their lives just because

they've committed a crime. "

The filing comes on the heels of collapsed settlement talks in a different

lawsuit seeking to reduce the prison population. The lawsuit estimated the

prison population at 190,000 inmates, but contrary to the filing, the state says

its prisons hold about 159,000 inmates.

At issue is whether overcrowding violates inmates' rights, leading to inadequate

health care, among other things. A trial is set for November. If the state loses

at trial, the federal judicial panel could order inmates to be released early.

Lead plaintiff is an inmate in California State Prison at Solano.

The filing says despite a 2007 diagnosis of an advanced stage of the disease, he

was repeatedly refused treatment.

Hepatitis C is a chronic, blood-borne infection which can be life-threatening if

not treated. It is often linked to infected drug needles, prison tattoos or body

piercing with non-sterile equipment.

About 20 percent of people who get hepatitis C clear it out of their system

naturally. Without treatment, one in four will suffer liver failure or develop

liver cancer.

The lawsuit names as its defendant Robin Dezember, the director of health

services for the state prisons. The department referred questions to the federal

receiver who is in charge of health care in California's prisons.

Patino, a spokesman for the federal receiver, said the filing is redundant

to the previous lawsuits.

" The receivership is already working on an initiative to mitigate and to work

with hepatitis C, " said Patino. " Already, the corrections are being done, the

receiver is putting together funding for seven facilities with 1,500 beds each

to improve health care, along with many realated health initiatives. "

To date, the federal receiver has had trouble getting state support to secure

the funding necessary to expand health care facilities in California's prisons.

Khorrami said that, despite the federal receiver's efforts, the problem has

persisted.

" To the extent that we're in no better shape now than we were several years ago,

there's no redundancy in this filing, " Khorrami said. " Nothing has happened. "

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