A female prisoner in the women’s camp of the Federal Correctional Complex-Coleman filed a complaint in federal court this week, alleging that unsanitary conditions and negligence by staff caused an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease.
The federal Bureau of Prisons said Thursday that two cases of the disease have been diagnosed at the low-security camp in Sumter County. There have been no cases of Legionnaires’ disease at the other complexes of the largest federal prison in the U.S.
Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by breathing in Legionella bacteria, which can grow in water pipes of large buildings and transform into a mist when devices such as showers and spas are used. It can be treated with antibiotics and isn’t contagious, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Prison officials told the Miami Herald Tuesday that 23 cases were diagnosed, a number that prison spokesman Justin Long said Thursday “was based on an incorrect interpretation of test results.”
Prison officials said the contaminated source hasn’t been discovered and that the Florida Department of Health reported all water samples came back negative for the Legionella bacteria.
Long said in an email that after the first cases were confirmed “corrective measures were put in place to protect the inmate population including installation of the recirculating pumps and the point-of-use filters.”
But Kara Adams, who was placed at the Coleman camp in November 2018, described in the complaint that bathroom ceilings in the camp are leaking and shower drains often back up with sewer waste.
Adams, 48, filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court in Ocala on behalf of herself and the “women of the Coleman camp.”
“The Coleman camp officials have failed in their duties to keep the water and air sources in the prison properly maintained, and when inmates became ill, the medical services failed to respond adequately with medical care,” the complaint states.
There are 409 women incarcerated at the camp, including former U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, a Jacksonville Democrat who represented a portion of Central Florida and was convicted in 2017 on fraud charges.
Adams wrote in court documents that she saw a doctor Jan. 24 after complaining of fever, headaches, cough and shortness of breath. She was examined, given a chest X-ray and prescribed a five-day course of antibiotics but wasn’t informed of her diagnosis. Multiple complaints through the camp’s email system to staff went unanswered, she said.
The Orlando Sentinel asked prison officials about the number of female prisoners affected, what health precautions are being taken and if everyone who resides and works at the camp have been tested for Legionnaires’ disease.
Long said the Bureau of Prisons can’t provide specific answers because of the pending litigation.
On Thursday, a federal judge filed an emergency motion, ordering the camp’s warden to disclose before Tuesday “what efforts are being made to address the allegations.”
This story originally appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com.
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