Valley Fever

I recently came across an article about a former Taft Prison inmate who, last summer, successfully settled a lawsuit against Taft C.I. According to the articles, & there were several published last August, , Arjang Panah in 2005 had sued the U. S. Government for not taking reasonable steps to prevent him from contracting Valley Fever, an incurable disease, that was prevalent to the area the prison is situated in. Ultimately his lawyers settled the case for $425K, after having sued for several million dollars. Panah was sueing the Govt for failing to provide a safe living environment in its prison, in that it knowingly placed prisoners in an area known as a hotbed for the deadly fungus that causes the disease. Panah alleged in his lawsuit that the federal government failed to provide the private contractor that operates the prison with a facility that gives inmates safe air to breathe, guidance on how to prevent dust inhalation, or adequate equipment and resources to reduce the disease-bearing dust. In the end the Govt settled, without admitting guilt, no doubt not wanting to deal with the media fallout, hoping to just brush it all under the rug.

One article stated “According to a declaration filed by attorney Ian Wallach, the CDC (Center for Disease Control) was asked to evaluate and make recommendations for the treatment of 88 inmates who had been diagnosed with Valley Fever in 2003 and 2004 at the Taft prison" (a year before Corey would be sent to this facility). "However, no measures were implemented that could have prevented inmates from being infected. Panah fell ill shortly after being transferred to Taft, his illness is presently incurable."

As I read the various articles I found related to the settled lawsuit it brought back to me the immense feelings of relief I’d experienced when Corey was finally, after having spent 8 yrs in Taft, transferred to the Lompoc prison camp last May. All 8 of those years we’ve lived with knowing the risk he faced, stuck out there in a prison built on and surrounded by dirt and sand containing the fungal spores that when breathed in adhere to the linings of ones lungs, resulting in infections that pose a deadly threat. I’ve read darker skinner individuals are more susceptible, blacks, Hispanics, etc, but I know firsthand anyone can contract it. As I myself did!! Being blonde and blue eyed (well, maybe more green than blue) and of Scottish, Ukrainian descent, I hadn’t been living in Taft longer than 5 months when I awoke one nite in such incredible pain I felt someone had taken a baseball bat to me!!! I could hardly take a breath, it hurt so badly just to breathe, it hurt to move any part of my body PERIOD! An excellent pulmonary specialist in Bakersfield diagnosed me with Coccidioidomycosis, commonly known as Valley Fever, the very next day. He immediately put me on anti fungal meds, super dosages, and at that, it took me several months to get over the disease. During that time I had absolutely no energy, I was very lethargic and depressed. I ached everywhere. I never left the house. Eventually I healed and have, thankfully, had no recurrences, though my doctor, the wonderful Dr Allam, Pulmonary Specialist, recommends I get a blood test every year or two to check for the fungi. It CAN resurge at any time, in particular should I ever get an autoimmune disease. It apparently will always live within me. I imagine I had breathed in the spores during one of the windy days at Taft, perhaps even as I waited my turn outside the Camps Visitation building on one of those windy days, or mayhap simply digging in my own small flower garden, thus disturbing the spores.

Having heard about the level of medical care at most prisons, the protocols that must be followed, I lived with the dread of knowing what my son would have to suffer in addition to the disease's painful symptoms. Its not that easy to get good care in a prison, and the only OTC meds available on commissary are aspirin and if lucky, ibuprofen. One starts with getting up super early to go stand in line for what can be hours, at sick bay, then first seeing only a nurse for a percursary diagnoses, being told to come back in a week if one didn't feel better, and only then, maybe, being able to see an actual doctor for a proper diagnoses, and hopefully getting a slightly stronger med to ease ones symptoms...all the while, if it should be Valley Fever, suffering terribly as I had been. And even then,IF one is properly diagnosed, the level of care in most cases is often substandard at best.

One of my greatest fears in my son's serving his lengthy sentence, was the greater the chance he would at some time get seriously ill. How much more he would suffer in such circumstances and with substandard care, and would I ultimately lose him. That fear has harbored within me for so long, the possibility that my son would never walk out of prison, that should he contract such a disease his 12 1/2 yr sentence for selling marijauna could become a death sentence. The fear lessened as each year passed, I supposed mostly I just 'adjusted' to it more than anything, and as we got closer to his release (now 'just' 9 months away) pretty much eased as I could see the end of the road lay just ahead.

I won't forget all the times he DID get sick, with the seasonal colds and flu that would besiege the place, as you can imagine, with so many men living in crowded conditions there is little hope ever of avoiding the latest outbreak of whatever the virus de jour is. With no cough syrups, decongestants, nothing much to ease the symptoms one suffers with, Corey would nurse himself back to health, just drinking lots of tea, and resting whenever he could. Those times he'd get really sick, a good buddy would be there to make and serve him soups or broths, keep an eye on him. I can still recall the feelings of incredible gratitude I would feel for the man or men that would come to his aid, knowing Corey would at some time be doing the very same for another.

As I read the articles in the news about the lawsuit, in particular those whereby the Taft Prison HAD stated they’d taken strong precautions to keep the prisoners safe from contracting the spores, I couldn’t help but recall as recently as the summer of 2011, evidence to the contrary. I had been visiting Corey at the Taft Camp and was appalled to see out the window, in the back of the visitation Building, which was actually the front yard of the Units the prisoners reside in, where once there had been a nice green lawn, the grass was being rototilled up, dug up, and removed! Clouds of dust and dirt filled the air! I asked my son what on earth was going on, immediately concerned with how this would disturb any fungal spores in the earth and saturate the very air with them! The prison was virtually removing all grass and lawn areas, except what was visible in the front of the buildings, I could only surmise in an effort to further cut costs (water bills?) and grow their profits? Why else? It was patently clear the threat, the risk of Valley Fever, was of no concern to this facility at all.

I expect now, after having had to pay out $425K in settlement costs the prison will find they made a very poor decision. I imagine this will not be the last lawsuit they are hit with.