Stuck in prison quarantine, SC women say they aren’t getting basic medicines, insulin
A coronavirus outbreak has women incarcerated at a South Carolina prison quarantined and isolated while prison staff refuse to check on them and at times aren’t giving them life-saving medication, including insulin, according to people inside the the prison.
The outbreak is happening at the medium security Graham Correctional Institution, also called Camille-Graham, on Broad River Road in Columbia, where imprisoned people described mistreatment and inhumane conditions in which they’re afraid for their lives.
On Saturday, Amanda Rankin, an incarcerated woman, lost her breath and began swelling on her left side, she said. She was in isolation with her cellmate because both tested positive for coronavirus around Jan. 12. Rankin didn’t know what was happening. She thought she was having an allergic reaction to something she ate. She couldn’t breathe and her roommate called for corrections officers to help. But none came when first called, Rankin and her cellmate said.
It took Rankin’s cellmate calling Rankin’s mother on a prison-provided tablet and her mother making calls to the corrections department officials to get a Camille-Graham staff member to check on her daughter, Rankin said. Rankin was given shots and Benedryl after a staff member finally arrived.
“Deliberate indifference is what it is,” Rankin said.
The experience is one from eight people imprisoned in Camille-Graham in the “Dana” building that’s being used to isolate people with coronavirus. The inmates spoke with The State over prison-provided tablets; some said they may face retribution for speaking out but their situation is too desperate to do nothing.
The South Carolina Department of Corrections admitted that recent staffing issues “delayed some medical services, including medication administration.”
To address the staffing issues, the department requested and gained approval for emergency nursing help, which began Monday, department spokesperson Chrysti Shain said in a statement.
Across the United States, prisons are dealing with outbreaks of the coronavirus and failing to control it. The New York Times reported that more than 480,000 confirmed coronavirus infections and at least 2,100 deaths have occurred among inmates and guards in prisons, jails and detention centers in the U.S.
In South Carolina, at least eight people in recent weeks weren’t given insulin when they were supposed to, according to the inmates. One woman was hospitalized after not getting the diabetes medication, they said.
By law, the corrections department cannot discuss specific medical issues of incarcerated people, but the agency said that two inmates are currently hospitalized, neither for COVID reasons. One is a long-term hospitalization.
Tamika Eden said she didn’t receive her daily insulin for five days until Tuesday.
Erica Anderson did not get medication she regularly takes for three days between Jan. 22 and 24, causing her to have withdrawal symptoms, she said.
Lacey Ray has only been getting two of her four medications since she’s been quarantined.
Julie Mason said since she’s been in quarantine starting about mid-January, she hasn’t gotten anti-seizure medication she needs at times. Pamela Hoffman also said staff has skipped giving her anti-seizure medication for three days, and she also hasn’t received an asthma pump she needs since being quarantined for coronavirus.
With high blood pressure, asthma and other underlying conditions, Hoffman questioned why she hasn’t been sent to see a doctor by the prison officials.
“I’m stuck in a hole with no information,” she said. “I’m really, really scared.”
Beyond prescriptions, people aren’t getting basic medicines for symptoms of the coronavirus, people said.
Mason had to bang on a door to get a corrections officer’s attention when she was having pains from the coronavirus, only to be told she can’t have any Tylenol, she said. Others said they were being denied Tylenol as well.
A lack of nurses and willing corrections officers are making issues worse, according to the inmates.
Staff members aren’t coming to check patients’ vital signs, the inmates said, and they’ve been told the prison is short staffed with medical workers.
The prison monitor for the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina said the organization has been fielding increased calls about the conditions at Camille-Graham in January. People are reporting the same lack of care and medication that people told The State about.
People who have been on suicide watch in the past did not received scheduled mental health medication, which could be fatal, Shirene Hansotia of the ACLU said.
“People are really panicking,” she said of women inside the prison.
Gena Beatty, an imprisoned woman, said nurses are refusing to go into the building where people are isolated at times though it may not be related to the nurses being afraid coronavirus.
Incarcerated people have also heard that corrections officers are told it’s optional to go into the building with coronavirus patients, making it difficult for people to get help if they’re experiencing symptoms or missing medication.
As to officers refusing to go into certain buildings, Shain said, “officers continue to man posts in all of the living units.”
Camille-Graham has 50 positive coronavirus cases out of a population of 559, Shain said. Most dorms at the prison are under quarantine.
Shain said it’s important to understand “that we have a large complement of medical personnel at Camille, including the institution staff, National Guard and nurses provided by (the South Carolina Emergency Management Division).”
The National Guard members are checking vitals twice a day, Shain said. People experiencing coronavirus symptoms are treated when they report the symptoms.
“The agency has dedicated officers, nurses and other medical personnel working around the clock to keep inmates and the public safe,” Shain.
But incarcerated people and their families describe a much more dire situation in the prison.
Alaina Jayden, Anderson’s daughter, said being in quarantine for catching a virus that people have no control over is like a form of “punishment” in the prison.
“This is not the first time Camille-Graham has abused inmates and they continue to show that they do not care about their physical health, mental health, or if these women are suffering from COVID symptoms,” Jayden said.
Lynda Davis, Rankin’s mother, reached out to The State, saying she was desperate for something to be done about her daughter’s condition after she had trouble breathing and experienced swelling.
“My daughter could have died because of the lack of concern or care,” Davis said.
Incarcerated people say the department is downplaying their conditions to a what they fear will be a deadly extent.
“They’re lying to our family,” Mason said about the prison’s coronavirus response and medication distribution.
The number of positive coronavirus cases, while at about 10% of the population, may be higher because not everyone in the prison is being tested. Only people who develop symptoms are getting tested, according to the Department of Corrections.
Activists who monitor South Carolina prisons, including the Civil Defense Corps, are speaking out. The group held a press conference outside the corrections department headquarters on Broad River Road Wednesday afternoon.
“This is not just a one off incident,” Anson Foster, of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, said. “There has been a history of neglect and abuse at Camille-Graham specifically and across the South Carolina Department of Corrections.”
In 2019, a psychiatrist testified to SC lawmakers that mentally ill incarcerated women were being abused and neglected at Camille-Graham.
At the time, Prisons Director Bryan Stirling, who was appointed to lead the agency in 2013, said he was appalled by the abuse and neglect. The prison system made productive changes within Camille Graham’s mental health unit after the abuses were uncovered, the psychiatrist testified.
Mason, a 55-year-old grandmother who’s been imprisoned since 2012 after a DUI resulting in death conviction, talked to her grand babies recently over one of the prison tablets, she said. It’s emotional to see them and to tell them what’s going on.
She’s set to be released in 2026 but she worries she might never see that year or her grand babies in person ever again.
“We felt like they’ve just wanted us to die,” she said.
This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 10:22 AM.