By LEE WILLIAMS and ESTEBAN PARRA
The News Journal
10/16/2005
Karl Paolini has been a Delaware prison guard the past 16 years, and he was optimistic that problems highlighted in The News Journal's recent series would get immediate attention from state officials.
Rather than acknowledging the legitimate health care concerns, however, Paolini believes Correction Commissioner Stan Taylor "is distorting the truth" to shift public focus off the prisons.
"He's very good at spinning things to his advantage," Paolini said. "He will push it and push it until the public isn't interested in hearing about it anymore."
Paolini is so angered by Taylor's actions of recent weeks he said he is willing to risk his career to give the public a better understanding of what goes on behind prison walls. He argues that Taylor used the same tactics last year when chronic understaffing led to mandatory overtime for guards at several prisons, forcing some officers to work two or three eight-hour overtime shifts per week (forced overtime is still an issue for prison staff members).
When the guards balked, Paolini said, "Taylor called us unprofessional, saying we all needed to pull together. He spun it and made us the bad guys."
Taylor denied that he tries to spin his way out of trouble. Instead, the commissioner said, "What I try to do is tell the whole story."
Paolini came forward after a six-month investigation by The News Journal highlighted AIDS-related inmate deaths and suicides over the past four years; allegations by inmates and former prison employees of poor medical treatment for cancer, meningitis and hepatitis; and a no-bid $25.9 million contract awarded this year to St. Louis-based Correctional Medical Services to manage health care in the state's prisons.
The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice has launched a formal inquiry into prison conditions in Delaware.
Worries about Legionnaires'
Paolini, 57, acknowledged that he has issues with authority figures, and that he has been suspended from his job before. But he emphasized that another factor motivating him to talk was a concern facing all guards: wondering daily what illnesses they might be bringing home to their families.
Several months ago, Paolini said, a leaky air conditioning system dripped water onto eight ceiling tiles in his tier at the Sussex Correctional Institution in Georgetown. None of the 60 men on the tier was struck by debris when the tiles crashed onto the floor and dining tables. But the tiles were covered with black mold, Paolini said.
"I submitted multiple work orders about this, but nothing was ever done," Paolini said, noting that when he finished his shift on Friday, there were still eight holes in the ceiling .
Soon after the tiles fell, an inmate on Paolini's tier was found unconscious, the guard said. SCI Warden Richard Kearney sent an e-mail to all prison employees explaining that the outbreak was "an isolated case" of Legionnaires' disease and nothing to worry about, Paolini said.
The e-mail states: "All Staff: An SCI inmate has tested positive for Legionnaires' disease. This is an isolated case and the Public Health Dept. does not consider the event to be significant at this time. We are taking steps to try to identify the source of the problem. However, the bacteria that causes the disease occurs naturally and identifying the source may be difficult. Please check out www.cdc.gov with questions or concerns regarding the disease. I don't believe staff are at risk at this time. I'll keep you posted on our progress with identifying a source."
The e-mail was sent by Warden Kearney on July 19.
Once he saw the memo, Paolini began surfing the Web to find out about Legionnaires' disease. He soon discovered that symptoms include pneumonia, a dry cough and muscular pain -- and that Legionella bacteria can inhabit air-conditioning systems of large buildings. Unless treated promptly with antibiotics, the disease can kill 5 percent to 30 percent of its victims, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Armed with this information, Paolini said, he felt compelled to let inmates know there had been an outbreak. He posted a one-page flier on his tier, but it was taken down quickly. Determined to get the word out, Paolini said he then printed out a four-page story from the Web and posted that in the tier, too.
"They weren't happy that I posted it on the tier," Paolini said. "I'm surprised they didn't suspend me for that. But the DOC is too reactive. They're not proactive about anything. When you're constantly trying to deflect it, when you're constantly trying to spin it, people see that you're trying to cover up something."
According to the Delaware Health and Human Services Web site, "all Delaware physicians, laboratories and other health care providers are required by law to report patients" with communicable diseases such as Legionnaires'.
Jay Lynch, Department of Health and Social Services spokesman, confirmed there was one case of Legionnaires' at SCI on July 15. Another inmate was given a urine test twice at Beebe Medical Center in Lewes. Both times he tested negative for Legionnaires', Lynch said.
"He could have gotten it just from the air," Lynch said of the ill inmate, who appears to have made a full recovery.
The prison case was not reported to the public, or posted on the agency's Web site, Lynch said, because, "If there is no risk, why inform people and frighten them?"
The state Division of Public Health questioned the DOC to determine if the Georgetown prison was safe after the Legionnaires' case was reported in July. The questioning was done over two days through a series of teleconferences. In the end, Lynch said, Public Health officials were convinced the prison was safe and the division did not need to inspect the facility.
Lynch checked agency records and said the case in July is the only one reported by prison officials for at least the past five years.
Early last week, Taylor would not say whether he was aware of any cases of Legionnaires' disease in the state prisons, and he refused to answer "random questions" concerning health care of inmates. He said such questions were better addressed by his spokeswoman, Beth Welch.
In a written release sent late Friday, Welch wrote: "Commissioner Taylor was aware of the case of Legionnaires' at SCI at the time it occurred."
After doing so much research on Legionnaires', Paolini worries that the bacteria that cause it could be lurking in the air conditioning system serving the building. Avoiding water conditions that allow the organism to grow is essential for preventing Legionnaires' disease, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Paolini said he checked with prison maintenance, and there has not been a thorough cleaning of the ventilation system since the Legionnaires' outbreak occurred. Meanwhile, the guard said he can't help but worry about the ceiling tiles caked with mold that crashed to the floor.
Taylor, however, said he does not believe there was -- or is -- black mold growing on ceiling tiles in Paolini's tier, which was built six years ago.
When told of Taylor's response, Paolini shakes his head.
"No one talks to him," Paolini said. "Certainly no one tells him anything bad."
Countered Taylor: "I would disagree." The commissioner said he is in touch with the good and bad going on inside prisons statewide that house nearly 7,000 inmates.
'Honorable deed'
Rep. Dennis P. Williams, D-Wilmington North, who's advocating change inside the state's prisons, said he understands the soul-searching someone like Paolini goes through before breaking ranks within a paramilitary organization. A former Wilmington police detective, Williams was ostracized by some of his peers when he investigated an officer for narcotics violations.
"If he (Paolini) is bringing something to light that needs to be talked about, he's doing an honorable deed," Williams said. "If they try to fire him, I'll do the best I can to protect him. He can come to me. I won't let that happen to him."
Paolini started his career as a correctional officer in March 1989. He was assigned to the Delaware Correctional Center near Smyrna -- the state's roughest prison, built for the most incorrigible offenders.
His first assignment was as a floater, working all the positions in the prison. It was good experience, he said.
Eventually, he was assigned to foot patrol, routinely surrounded by more than 600 inmates, armed only with a radio.
Paolini has been on the receiving end of several disciplinary actions. That includes getting suspended for three weeks after he brought burgers into the prison. The food was an incentive for the inmate cleaning crew on his tier. He contends that other guards routinely use food to reward inmates for outstanding work. Paolini believes he was singled out.
"I've been suspended a bunch of times," he said.
In 1992, Paolini started an underground newspaper for the guard force at DCC called "The Midnight Sun." The publication contained internal news, gossip and humor and was not well received by the prison administration. He was suspended in December 1993 because of the publication, and fired three months later.
"They disguised it [the firing] as racism," Paolini claimed. A successful lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union forced the department to rehire Paolini, and give him more than a year of back pay. He was transferred to SCI near Georgetown.
No specifics
When pressed about allegations of poor medical care for the nearly 7,000 inmates in his prisons, Taylor in past weeks has explained that confidentiality requirements under federal law prohibited him from speaking on specific cases. But he always quickly added that inmate care is good, as evidenced by accreditation from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care , or NCCHC.
He also cited accreditation to explain why the state did not need to hire independent professionals to oversee the medical vendors providing inmate care.
"We are accredited by the NCCHC -- the entire state," Taylor said. "It's one of the requirements of the vendor, to maintain accreditation."
Now Taylor and the Delaware Attorney General's Office have blocked release of the most recent audit by the NCCHC, contending that the accreditation report is not a public document.
The News Journal asked for a copy of the NCCHC's most recent audit, undertaken in February at a cost to taxpayers of $12,400. Prison officials denied the request, so the newspaper filed a Freedom of Information request to obtain the report. On Tuesday, the Delaware Attorney General's Office officially denied the newspaper's request, citing a statute -- 24 Del. C. Sec. 1768 -- most commonly used in conjunction with peer review of doctors' offices and clinics.
The NCCHC also refused to provide a copy of the report. It explained that the report would only be released with written permission from prison officials.
Attorney General M. Jane Brady acknowledged that the statute her office used to deny the request does not contain the word "prison." Yet the audit is still confidential, Brady argued, because Delaware law excludes "assessment and evaluation of health services" from public disclosure.
Robert Lipkin, a professor of constitutional law at Widener University School of Law, said he did not understand how an accreditation report on how government works could be closed to the public.
"How are the people going to know how to evaluate governmental operations performed in the name of the people?" he asked. "I think it is a stretch to interpret it the way they are."
To officer Paolini, the denial is indicative of a "sick" culture, a culture more concerned with appearance than substance.
"It makes it look like there's something to hide," Paolini said. "It's supposed to be a public record. We (taxpayers) paid for it. This smells bad."
Contact investigative reporter Lee Williams at 324-2362 or lwilliams@delawareonline.com. Contact Esteban Parra at 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.
