JOHN GHIRARDINI
Copyright 2005 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Gwinnett’s sheriff promised a thorough investigation Monday into an inmate’s death, which prompted two cellmates to allege inadequate medical response.
Butch Conway also defended the jail’s contract medical provider, Prison Health Services, of Brentwood, Tenn.
“We’ll look into and see if what [the inmates] say is valid,” the sheriff said Monday. “We want the inmates to receive the medical care they require, and PHS has a good record with us.”
The company declined comment on the Oct. 17 death of Harriet Washington, 43, jailed since June for possession of cocaine. Washington, who suffered from leukemia, died on the jailhouse floor as her two cellmates watched.
“On any case involving patients or their treatment, we’re not going to be able to comment because of respect for patient confidentiality,” company spokeswoman Susan Morgenstern said.
Morgenstern said the company initiates an in-house review of every patient’s death.
Conway’s internal affairs investigation also is pending. Authorities still are awaiting the final autopsy report.
The two inmates, Kim Holmes and Carla Dotson, said in a jail interview Monday that they can’t get the images out of their heads.
They described Washington screaming in pain and convulsing before dying.
“We see this every night when we close our eyes,” Holmes said.
The two women said they didn’t meet Washington until the Saturday two days before her death, when they were moved into the same cell.
Those next two days “changed all of our lives forever,” the women said in a Nov. 8 letter to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Dotson is serving time for violating probation; Holmes, for violating parole.
Washington’s condition deteriorated Saturday and Sunday, the women said. Their repeated requests to have her checked by the medical unit largely went ignored.
“And each time, she was getting worse and worse, and they had to have noticed it,” Dotson said. “To watch her suffer and die has affected us for life.”
Holmes and Dotson began keeping a list of Washington’s numerous symptoms. On Sunday afternoon, they say, a medical unit nurse came to assess her condition.
The nurse refused to look at their list.
At 2:10 a.m. Monday, Holmes and Dotson said, Washington began vomiting continuously, prompting the women to yell for help.
According to the jail’s “Unusual Occurrence Report,” nurses from the medical unit did not arrive until 2:44 a.m., several minutes after Washington “exhaled a loud breath and her eyes were open and fixated.”
Holmes and Dotson both said Washington was not taken to the medical unit until after a nurse declared “no pulse” about 2:53 a.m. At 4:30 a.m., the two women were told to pack up Washington’s belongings.
Holmes and Dotson said that no physicians are in the medical unit on weekends.
Prison Health Services provides care to about 214,000 inmates at 310 jails and prisons in 37 states, according to the company’s Web site.
“We’re committed to quality care for all our patients,” Morgenstern said.
Conway said inmates often are ill when they arrive at the jail, which can make it tough on the medical staff.
“You’re dealing with a sick population to begin with,” he said. “Inmates don’t tend to take good care of themselves as a whole.”
Holmes and Dotson decided to risk retaliation by writing the letter because they think a change is needed.
“The only thing I have to say is that I didn’t want Harriet to die and nothing change,” Holmes said. “I just appreciate knowing that we have a voice even though we’re in here.”
December 6, 2005