Prisons And Jails; A Public Health Threat Before The Corona Virus Pandemic
Authored By: Bradley Chapline
Las Vegas, Nevada
Nov 2020
Edited By: Michele Chapline
Authored By: Bradley Chapline
Las Vegas, Nevada
Nov 2020
Edited By: Michele Chapline
I worked in prisons for just over thirty years. From military brigs and penitentiaries, to state prisons, I was in the midst of "contagion factories" for a good portion of my career.
Here's the skinny. Outbreaks of disease in prisons have always been common. Why? Simply because, for the most part, prison staff and management are the most corrupt, abusive, uncaring, ignorant, incompetent individuals I've ever been associated with.
Prisons and jails have always been a public health threat.
For, it is not uncommon for both prison staff or inmates to die of disease. And the rule is, if the prison is infected, so is the local community.
In prisons, I've been through tuberculosis, hepatitis, AIDS, and MRSA epidemics, in just naming a few.
The question is, how have I survived where most have not?
I managed my cell blocks, (usually about 240 inmates), with good common sense, teaching hygiene and good sound medical advice.
I provided inmates from my cell block with masks, gloves, and sometimes even surgical gowns. Those inmates who refused the protective gear were immediately shipped out. Prison staff I was partnered with were also removed from my post who refused to wear protective gear.
Here are the end results, while disease in other cell blocks in the prison population were spiraling out of control at approximately forty-eight percent, my cell block had a less than two percent infection rate.
But, It is true that one prison guard I had been working with died of an infectious airborne disease. However, it was discovered this individual had been removing his mask to smoke cigarettes.
Here is the bottom line, if I could minimize infectious airborne diseases in a prison cell block, there are no excuses for the outside world to have allowed this corona virus to spread to an absolute and extremely dangerous public health threat.
Here's the skinny. Outbreaks of disease in prisons have always been common. Why? Simply because, for the most part, prison staff and management are the most corrupt, abusive, uncaring, ignorant, incompetent individuals I've ever been associated with.
Prisons and jails have always been a public health threat.
For, it is not uncommon for both prison staff or inmates to die of disease. And the rule is, if the prison is infected, so is the local community.
In prisons, I've been through tuberculosis, hepatitis, AIDS, and MRSA epidemics, in just naming a few.
The question is, how have I survived where most have not?
I managed my cell blocks, (usually about 240 inmates), with good common sense, teaching hygiene and good sound medical advice.
I provided inmates from my cell block with masks, gloves, and sometimes even surgical gowns. Those inmates who refused the protective gear were immediately shipped out. Prison staff I was partnered with were also removed from my post who refused to wear protective gear.
Here are the end results, while disease in other cell blocks in the prison population were spiraling out of control at approximately forty-eight percent, my cell block had a less than two percent infection rate.
But, It is true that one prison guard I had been working with died of an infectious airborne disease. However, it was discovered this individual had been removing his mask to smoke cigarettes.
Here is the bottom line, if I could minimize infectious airborne diseases in a prison cell block, there are no excuses for the outside world to have allowed this corona virus to spread to an absolute and extremely dangerous public health threat.