Unmasked guards at Middle GA prison are spreading COVID-19, inmate claims in filing
An inmate at a Middle Georgia prison claims “staff and officials” there are unknowingly passing the coronavirus along to prisoners due to a lack of testing for the illness and because guards as well as those imprisoned are not being given protective equipment.
The complaint, noted in a June 26 filing in U.S. District Court in Macon, was written by an inmate at Dooly State Prison near Unadilla.
The inmate, Dennis Roy Hamilton, who is serving a life sentence plus five years for convictions in crimes that include kidnapping and armed robbery in Gwinnett County nearly two decades ago, was also convicted of assaulting a corrections officer in 2012.
Hamilton, who is in his late 30s, wrote that he is at “greater” risk of contracting COVID-19 because he suffers from asthma. He is seeking an early release to “home confinement.”
Hamilton’s claim, which a federal judge will weigh the merits of, mentions that he presented his concern to prison officials, but his grievance was not answered.
In response to an email from The Telegraph seeking comment on the claims, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections wrote that prison officials do not comment on pending litigation.
Hamilton, in his filing, contends his constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment has been violated because prisoners have not been provided “proper protection” from the virus.
“Staff and officers are contracting the COVID-19 virus on the outside, and are passing it on to the inmate population,” the filing added, noting that lacking social-distancing measures in prison violate “inmate rights and (put) their health and safety at risk.”
Hamilton claims that employees at the prison, which sits just east of Interstate 75 and about 10 miles south of Perry, are not wearing masks, gloves or other protective equipment.
Since the coronavirus outbreak began, the prison system has reported one death at the facility. Eight staff members have tested positive for the virus and each has recovered, while 17 inmates have tested positive and, as of Tuesday, 10 were said to have recovered.
On its website, the prison system said it has implemented extensive safety measures at state lockups, including making hand sanitizer available, “increased sanitation” and supplying “two sneeze/cough masks” to each inmate and similar masks to staffers.