Staph Infections

We've gotten many letters from prisoners about the staph infections in the jails and prisons where they are not getting treatment. They also are not getting the cleaning materials to clean their cells and other areas of the prisons and jails. Jails in at least six states have reported outbreaks of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a strain of the common staph infection that can give its victims pimples, oozing boils, blood infections or pneumonia.

Whether you live in a prison or jail, or you work in one, think about items that are handled or shared from one person to the next without washing, like clothes, towels, handcuffs, or even weights and sports equipment. This direct contact and sharing can allow bacteria like MRSA and other staph to spread.

Lack of handwashing: Another condition that can lead to spread of MRSA and other staph is lack of handwashing. MRSA and other staph can be removed from your hands by washing with soap and water or by using a hand sanitizer. The best way to prevent skin infections, and many other infections, is to wash your hands frequently. Daily showering is helpful to remove bacteria from the skin. Wearing shower shoes can protect your feet from bacteria and fungi as well.

When prisoners contact staph infections if they are not treated for it, it will spread fast to others, guards included. People feel prisoners don't need medical care inside the prisons because of our poor medical care on the outside. Millions of Americans do not have insurance and so when they get sick, they also don't get medical care.

However, when a staph infection that is hard to get rid of, and people are actually dying from it, to not give the medication to prisoners and not to give them the cleaning materials to get rid of the bacteria , sooner or later, this problem will not just be in the prisons, but in our own homes.

People with MRSA and other staph skin infections – especially boils or wounds that are swollen and have pus – can most easily spread staph to others. It is particularly important that the infected area be kept covered. Any bandages should be disposed of appropriately. Sharing personal items like towels should be avoided. Handwashing should be a high priority.

This past week we've had cases in our schools in Nashville. Schools were closed so that they could be washed down and cleaned.

In New Jersey, Point Pleasant Boro High School was reopened after cleaning crews sanitized classrooms, locker rooms and other parts of the school after a student had been diagnosed with the drug-resistant bacteria infection, MRSA.

In the past week, three students have died of the communicable infection.

A Richmond high school student and a Vaile elementary student told administrators they believe they have staph infections, Superintendent Allen Bourff said.

If confirmed, the latest cases would bring the Richmond Community Schools cases to three, after a high school football player on Tuesday told his athletic director he had the infection. The player and the other high school student were treated and allowed to return to school.

The nation’s attention was drawn to the superbug after Virginia student Ashton Bonds died on Monday, prompting the closure of 22 Virginia schools, which were cleaned.

It would seem to me that if started giving better medical care in the prisons, and also spent the money to have bleach and cleaning materials available for prisoners to clean their areas, this epidemic would not be hitting our school children. Is it worth it to deny medical care to prisoners when by not attending to them, it's bringing those diseases to our homes, to our children and loved ones.

Prisoners Medical Care

There over two million men and women incarcerated in America's prisons which operate void of public scrutiny. The remedy to the abuse and neglect (physical, psychological, and medical) of prisoners lies first in its exposure. Its exposure will be the result of a thorough, outside investigation. It is the job of our Congress to investigate the abuse and corruption within America's prisons. It is our job to make Congress see the dire need to investigate.

The Jeff Dicks Coalition is a non profit organization that tries to ensure that prisoners
get adequate medical care.

The Jeff Dicks Coalition consists of members who are committed to making a peaceful change in the procedures that direct the actions of those responsible for operating our courts and our State and Federal prison systems, as well as educate everyone who are unaware of how much inhumane treatment and abuses are being committed on prisoners.

There are many medical abuses in the system that go beyond what many people could even imagine. Guards making crippled inmates take top bunks, make them crawl to get their medications and worse.

Many people are wrongly convicted and sent to prison to die, either by the hands of guards, or by the death chambers. We believe that all prisoners have the right to be protected by guards who take it upon themselves to torture, rape, beat and kill those under their care. We believe that prisoners have the right to expect medical care when needed, and not to be denied that care or treatment because they are locked up.

Jeff Dicks was wrongly convicted and sentenced to die in TN electric chair. Even though there was a lot of evidence to show he was innocent, including a letter from a minister in Nashville who says in the letter that Jeff was innocent, he was allowed to be killed with medical neglect. www.jeffdicks.net

How can you help?

• Become a member of JDMC

• Volunteer. Most families of prisoners aren't joining. Make an exception and show you care where others don't. All it takes is a few hours a month to write letters or make calls on behalf of a prisoner. We desperately need state leaders as we'd like to have at least one leader for each state to handle cases from that state.

• Write your representatives related to medical abuse issues

• Donate time, a book of stamps or money to help the national chapter

• Start a state chapter if none exists.

• Spread the word.