Dortell Williams' Radio Broadcasts
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Copyright 2008 Dortell Williams/Prison Radio
Dortell Williams is an inmate at the Los Angeles County California State Prison in Lancaster, California. Dortell has been published in a number of community newspapers, including the San Francisco Bay View, The Final Call and The Los Angeles Sentinel. He mentors at-risk kids through San Francisco's The Beat Within and is an inside correspondent for Families to Amend Three Strikes. You can email Dortell at: dortellwilliams@yahoo.com. For more information about the Honor Yard Program, visit: www.prisonhonorprogram.org
Super Bugs Behind Bars
Commentary by Dortell Williams, recorded 1/03/08
1) 2:21 MP3 Radio Essay Radio Stations: Not Broadcast Quality
(Please be advised...given the conditions at the prison this recording may not be broadcast quality. You may want to broadcast it with an explanation, or broadcast a limited portions of it. We are in the process of re-recording this segment and will post it as soon as we can.)
Superbugs Behind Bars
Copyright 2008/ Dortell Williams
It’s called the “superbug,” you know, the “flesh-eating disease.” The potentially fatal staph infection that eats away at the skin, leaving in its wake hideous scars that remain forever.
Actually, that would be a fortunate consequence of the ailment, compared to those who’ve died. It’s a frightening malady. In October, a representative of the Journal of the American Medical Association says deaths caused by the aggressive germ exceed that of AIDS> Thirty-two infected people per 100,000. It’s a plague on the move in society, and reports of its devastation are growing.
It’s even worse for those enclosed, locked away in penal institutions across the continental horizon; staph is completely and utterly out of control.
It is within these forsaken venues of gloom that diseases like staph thrive. Prisoners are particularly vulnerable due to nationwide overcrowding, where people live virtually on top of one another.
Unfortunately, society is often dispassionate about what goes on within. Very few realize that what festers on the inside oozes outside.
In California, for instance, sheriff’s deputies were exposed to the flesh-eating disease. One deputy took it home to his new born.
In 2003, about 200 prisoners a month were being infected, totaling a little over 900 prisoners by year’s end. That’s just in the Los Angeles County Jail. In 2005, 129,000 prisoners were released from California state prisons. Nationwide, some 600,000 were released.
Does society have something to fear? You bet? “Corrections” facilities that do everything but correct. Think about it, if pervasive sub-cultures like sagging pants, laceless tennis shoes, racial disharmony and gang tensions can emanate from prisons, how much more contagious diseases?
Prisons are no more than an extension of society. As the frequency of prison and social issues intertwine, it is becoming evident that prisons are not America’s panacea, but it’s biting plague.
Sources:
M. Rigby, “Massachusetts Prisoners Battle MRSA, Untreated Hep. C,” Prison Legal News, October 2006: p. 32
Linsey Tanner, “Deaths From Staph May Surpass AIDS,” Antelope Valley Press, October 17, 2007: B1
Marvin Mentor, “California Prison Doctor Suspended Following 3 Prisoner Deaths,” Prison Legal News, March 2006: p. 9
Dortell Williams is an inmate at the Los Angeles County California State Prison in Lancaster, California. Dortell has been published in a number of community newspapers, including the San Francisco Bay View, The Final Call and The Los Angeles Sentinel. He mentors at-risk kids through San Francisco's The Beat Within and is an inside correspondent for Families to Amend Three Strikes. You can email Dortell at: dortellwilliams@yahoo.com. For more information about the Honor Yard Program, visit: www.prisonhonorprogram.org
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