The International Campaign to Free Kamau Sadiki Now! is publicizing the results of the investigative reporting by the Atlanta Georgia Constitution in digestible pieces on our blog and social media. Read their first article and see the shocking photos.
Oct 21, 2017,
The Atlantic Journal-Constitution,
An AJC Investigation,
By Danny Robbins.
Bags of garbage have piled up outside the operating room, attracting flies and mosquitoes. During surgery, dealing with the insects has become one of the occupational hazards for doctors and nurses.
Mold has contaminated the ceiling in the dental unit and a wall in a second-floor corridor of the hospital.
In the dialysis center, water has dripped under the sink into containers put there to catch it, and the chairs are so battered that they can’t be properly disinfected.
At Augusta State Medical Prison, unsafe and unsanitary conditions have persisted for weeks, months or years, putting inmates, doctors and others at risk. Even plaintive calls for help have been ignored.
Documents and photos obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution show that the Grovetown medical facility where Kamau is at, the flagship of Georgia’s correctional healthcare system, is a place where state officials have allowed hazards to slide. Trash, mold, dirty floors and counters, leaking ceilings and congested corridors are just some of the issues detailed in the documents, including emails and an environmental survey, that have flagged top officials to the problems.
Documents: Unsanitary conditions long ignored at Ga. prison hospital
Bags of garbage have piled up outside the operating room, attracting flies and mosquitoes. During surgery, dealing with the insects has become one of the occupational hazards for doctors and nurses.
Mold has contaminated the ceiling in the dental unit and a wall in a second-floor corridor of the hospital.
In the dialysis center, water has dripped under the sink into containers put there to catch it, and the chairs are so battered that they can’t be properly disinfected.
The garbage in the hallway outside the operating room, a situation rife with the potential for infection, wasn’t resolved as of last week even though the facility’s medical director earlier this month wrote an email to her superiors expressing frustration.
Dr. Mary Sherryl Alston wrote that the garbage had drawn insects “of all varieties” into the operating room and that mosquitoes had been swatted” away during procedures. The smell of the garbage also was noticeable in the operating room, she wrote.
“I am incredulous that such a discussion is still needed to address the problem within a facility that provides health care,” Alston wrote. “Simple solution: stop placing garbage by the OR now.”
Other potentially dangerous problems weren’t addressed despite years of warnings.
The annual environmental health and safety survey of the hospital in July discovered another serious health hazard — so-called black mold — and noted that the fungus would continue to develop unless several leaking ceilings were repaired.
Four ceilings had water damage, including two that hadn’t been fixed since they were identified as problems a year earlier. One of the damaged ceilings that hadn’t been repaired was in the operating room, the other in the pharmacy.
“These areas are affected whenever it rains,” the inspector, Jeff Speer, wrote. “Continued water intrusion will significantly increase the potential for mold to develop in these critical areas.”
The survey also found that operating room corridors were crowded with equipment and supplies, a fire hazard that also existed in 2016.
Adding to the danger, fire extinguishers by the doors had not been inspected monthly, a requirement to ensure they will work if fire were to break out in the 34-year-old facility, which has 55 hospital beds and the capability of housing more than 1,300 inmates. Inspections found the same problem in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Responsibility for managing the medical side of the facility, commonly known as ASMP, belongs to Georgia Correctional HealthCare, the branch of Augusta University contracted by the Department of Corrections to provide healthcare services. The prison itself is in the hands of the GDC.
In an email to the AJC Friday, a GDC spokeswoman, Gwendolyn Hogan, said the department was aware of the problems with the garbage and mold and both had been“resolved.” She said the water leaks are being “assessed by engineering. The email provided no details.
Christen Engel, Augusta University’s associate vice president for communications, said Georgia Correctional HealthCare supports the GDC’s plan to address “concerns” at the facility.
“While GCHC specializes in the provision of healthcare, we appreciate the challenges associated with the maintenance and repair of older facilities and continue to partner with GDC to create a safe environment for our patients,” she wrote in an email.