Lake Co. inmates sue over staph infections
CROWN POINT, Ind. — Several Lake County Jail inmates have sued the jail’s warden and the sheriff, alleging that unsanitary conditions at the jail led them to contract the dangerous drug-resistant staph “superbug.”
Their lawsuits, filed late last week in federal court in Hammond, name Warden Bernard Freeman and Lake County Sheriff Rogelio “Roy” Dominguez.
Sheriff’s Department spokesman Mike Higgins and Sheriff’s Department attorney John Kopack said Friday they weren’t aware of any lawsuit filed against the Sheriff’s Department concerning MRSA — methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
But they confirmed that the jail was closed down for one day for sterilization last year after inmates were diagnosed with the staph infection.
Higgins said he was not aware of any current cases of MRSA in the jail.
Several Porter County inmates recently sued the Porter County Jail for the same reason.
One lawsuit filed Thursday was brought by inmate Thormonn Lawrence, who charges that Freeman and Dominguez refused to respond to Lawrence’s grievances, including exposure to MRSA.
In his statement of claim, Lawrence said he caught MRSA at the Lake County Jail and “could have died as a result of the medical health care providers … and careless administration.”
Lawrence said he had a bump that went untreated for three weeks until finally a staff member burst the sore without providing anything to cover the draining lesion.
Lawrence said he was left in the same cell with uninfected inmates and given antibiotics several days later.
Health-care specialists have targeted jails and schools as particularly susceptible to the spread of MRSA because of the daily person-to-person contact.
MRSA has mutated over several decades because of overuse of antibiotics, morphing into a drug-resistant “superbug.” Left untreated, severe cases have been known to cause death.