黑料吃瓜网

Scottie Edwards died of COVID-19 just weeks before he would have gotten out of the Westville Correctional Facility in Indiana.

Edwards, 73, began showing symptoms of the disease in early April, according to the accounts of three inmates who lived with him in a dormitory. He was short of breath, had chest pain and could barely talk. He was also dizzy, sweaty and throwing up.

Edwards was serving a 40-year sentence for attempting to kill someone in 2001. He would have been released to home detention on May 1 but died on April 13. The next day, the Indiana Department of Correction sent out a statement that indicated Edwards鈥� symptoms came on suddenly: 鈥淭he offender, a male over the age of 70, who did not have indications of illness, reported experiencing chest pains and trouble breathing on Monday.鈥�

Edwards鈥� fellow inmates dispute the statement and say he had been seeking medical attention at the prison for days before he died.

Since the start of the pandemic, prisoners and their families have contradicted state officials about the conditions inside Indiana prisons. Many inmates report they鈥檝e had no way to protect themselves from close contact with other inmates and staff members. They believe contracting the disease is inevitable. Indeed, 85% of the prisoners tested at Westville have been positive for the virus. Many of them were housed in the same dorm as Edwards.

As of May 22, at least聽 had died from confirmed or presumed coronavirus infections, and 650 inmates had tested positive for the virus. And while the state has maintained it isolates men and women with symptoms, inmates say even severely ill prisoners have been left in their dorms until it is too late. Their accounts call into question efforts to contain the virus, along with the care inmates receive once they have it.

鈥淸Edwards] had been sick for approximately about a week and a half,鈥� said one inmate named Josh. Josh allowed a family member to record a call about Edwards, and he asked to be identified only by his first name because he fears retaliation from prison staff.

His fellow prisoners say Edwards couldn鈥檛 even make it to see medical staff on his own 鈥� they pushed him in a wheelchair. Each time, he was sent back to his quarters.

鈥淭hose bastards said I鈥檓 fine, I just need to drink water and rest,鈥� Josh recounted Edwards saying. 鈥淚鈥檓 clearly not fine 鈥� I can鈥檛 breathe.鈥� Another prisoner wrote in an electronic message to a reporter that Edwards鈥� room 鈥渟melled like sickness and death.鈥�

On the day he died, Josh said Edwards looked pale before he stumbled on his way to the bathroom. A pair of fellow inmates caught him and helped him sit down. 鈥淗e sounded like he was winded, like he had just ran a marathon,鈥� Josh wrote via the prison system鈥檚 electronic communications software. 鈥淗e was just saying 鈥業 can鈥檛 breathe, I can鈥檛 breathe.鈥欌�� He said an officer called the prison medical staff, who tended to Edwards in the bathroom for about 45 minutes.

鈥淭hey finally took him out on oxygen,鈥� Josh said. 鈥淣ext thing we know, five hours later, he died.鈥�

The Westville inmates emphasize that Edwards didn鈥檛 wait until that Monday to report his symptoms 鈥� he had complained to staff for days. 鈥淭here is a major problem here with this place and it鈥檚 outta control,鈥� wrote Josh.

, chief medical officer for the Indiana Department of Correction, declined to explain the different accounts of his death. 鈥淲e do not talk about specific cases and patient clinical status,鈥� she said.

Across the nation, at least 415 prisoners had died of the infection as of the week of May 20, and more than 29,000 had tested positive,聽.

The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups have called for the early release of some prisoners, especially the old and sick. Protesters have demonstrated outside Westville and other Indiana prisons to call attention to the conditions inside. Governors in the nearby states of聽听补苍诲听聽have ordered some prisoners released, but聽 has refused. He said it鈥檚 up to local judges to decide, on a case-by-case basis.

In the meantime, Dauss said Indiana prisons are taking steps to control the spread of the coronavirus. 鈥淲e move quickly and, in fact, immediately to separate those who are sick from those who are not sick,鈥� said Dauss.

But according to accounts from numerous inmates, that kind of quick isolation of sick prisoners hasn鈥檛 always happened, at least through much of April.

Three different prisoners described another COVID-19 death in a different Indiana prison, the Plainfield Correctional Facility, on April 19. Lonnell Chaney, they said, had been asking for medical help for days.

鈥淗e didn鈥檛 even know where he was,鈥� one inmate wrote to a reporter. Medical staff had checked on Chaney, who mumbled in response, but left him in the quarters. A prisoner tried to convince officers that the man鈥檚 condition was serious 鈥� Chaney couldn鈥檛 catch his breath 鈥� but the officers brushed it off.

The prisoners say Chaney, who was 61, died in his bed in the crowded dorm. 鈥淵ou must be almost dead to get outside help,鈥� wrote the Plainfield inmate.

Six Plainfield prisoners have died during the coronavirus pandemic. The Department of Correction has not released a statement about any of those men. Of 145 Plainfield prisoners tested for the virus, 119 were positive. Forty-five staffers tested positive, as well. Indiana has reported two deaths of prison staffers, as of May 22.

At the Westville prison, Josh said another man in his dorm complained about similar symptoms, and correctional officers wrote the man up for being disruptive.

鈥淓verybody here is terrified,鈥� Josh said.

As the virus spreads, prisoners鈥� families are聽. They say prisons refuse to disclose basic information that would put them at ease, including whether an inmate is alive. In Scottie Edwards鈥� case and others, families didn鈥檛 know their loved ones were sick until after they had died 鈥� even though a department policy calls for notification when 鈥渄eath may be imminent.鈥�

Crystal Gillispie talked to her father, Lonnell Chaney, for the last time on April 13. Their call lasted five minutes but felt shorter. He told her to send pictures of his grandchildren. And even though the coronavirus had started to spread in his dorm at the Plainfield Correctional Facility, he was more concerned about his family.

鈥淗e was like, 鈥楯ust make sure you鈥檙e wearing your gloves and masks,鈥欌�� Gillispie remembered. 鈥淚 was like, 鈥極K, Daddy. You do the same.鈥� He was so worried about us, and he ended up catching it.鈥�

The next time she heard news of her father, it was from her aunt, his sister: The prison had called her to say Chaney was dead.

Edwards鈥� sister, Gloria Sam, said her brother was new to Westville prison, because he鈥檇 recently requested a transfer to a facility with a law library. He ended up at Westville just before the pandemic started.

鈥淗e said, 鈥業 am afraid of this virus because we鈥檙e here close together, and if it comes out, it鈥檒l spread like wildfire,鈥欌�� she said. Sam hadn鈥檛 heard from Edwards in more than a week when her phone rang on April 14. She remembers that even though her caller ID said it was from the State of Indiana, it didn鈥檛 occur to her that it was about her brother.

鈥淭hey said, 鈥榃ell, we have some bad news.鈥� I thought they were gonna say he was sick,鈥� she said. They told her he had died.

If possible, Sam said, she would have wanted to say goodbye.

鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the most hurtful things I鈥檝e experienced in my life,鈥� she said.

This story is part of a partnership that includes , , and Kaiser Health News.