Guards denied medical care to an accused sex offender.
For hours before he died in a northern Vermont prison this month, Kenneth Johnson struggled to breathe and begged for medical attention, according to a fellow inmate who was with Johnson that night.
“He kept banging on the window for the nurse to do something about it — and they didn’t,” said the other inmate, Raymond Gadreault. Johnson, Gadreault and a third prisoner spent the night of December 6 in a locked infirmary at the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport. According to the Vermont Department of Corrections, Johnson was transferred to a hospital before dawn and pronounced dead at 3:30 a.m. In a press release issued that afternoon, the department said that Johnson’s “cause of death appears to be natural causes.”
But according to Gadreault, prison medical staffers could have done more to save him. The 60-year-old man — an accused sex offender — had been having trouble breathing for more than a week before his death, Gadreault said. By December 6, Johnson’s condition had apparently worsened.
According to Gadreault, Johnson spent at least four hours that night “knocking on the window, telling the nurses he was having trouble breathing and needed to go to the hospital.” Instead, he said, nursing staff ignored Johnson and then threatened him.
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This is nothing more than cold blooded murder by “people” who in reality aren’t qualified to clean toilets – much less be “responsible” for other actual human beings.
Truth is that medical employees lie doctors take an oath to do no harm but just as we see in today’s politics, oaths mean nothing.
13+ years incarcerated in the B.O.P.. Geez, where do I start?
Myocardial infarction at Terminal island. The guards laughed at me.
Heel spurs and told surgery was considered cosmetic therefore denied then M.R.S.A. at Safford,Az. Nearly lost my leg. No probiotic follow up resulting in untreated.
A, Infectious Colitis
B, Ulcerative Colitis
C, Cronic Colitis. Now I’m out on 4800mg tab. 1000mg supp and 60ml enema daily.
Then there was the Spinal stenosis that went untreated despite outside doctors recommending surgery.
I’ve seen non-s/o inmates get surgery at the drop of a hat for shoulder and knee and back issues.
I could go on but considering 13 lawyers denied me representation once my crime of hands on sex offence against a minor was known I should just be glad I survived prison and be greatful I’m alive today.
It’s sad that this Vermont inmate was denied medical treatment but from personal experience I would say he got what many sex offenders get when we go to prison.
I dont mean to leave you with the impression that I dont care, it’s just that I understand.
😶
This happened to me. I was ignored until I almost died. I made a collect call to my parents and told them I loved them and to get an attorney because I was would be dead in a few days due to being denied medical care for a failing liver.
My parents called the governors office and within 24 hours I was in the hospital ( not a public one ). Although they still didn’t really do anything for me, the food was better and I was in an air conditioned room and even got to take a hot bath whenever I wanted to.
If I had not been able to call my parents and if they didn’t have connections in the Governors office, I would be dead. Inmates may have done bad things but are still people. In lock up, most are treated worse than dogs and if you do not have anyone on you side, you are screwed.
When I was serving time at Elkton, There were three deaths there of prisoners who sought medical care at odd hours.There was a lot of distance between the units, the rec center, and the medical facility. Older prisoners sometimes had a hard slog to reach them if they were ailing. If they hadn’t been called out on the roster after attendance at sick call, they usually wouldn’t be seen until they did get a call-out appointment. One older fellow trudged over there in midwinter and was told he wouldn’t be seen that day. On the way back to his unit, he collapsed and died. This kind of thing is ongoing at nearly every federal prison in the country. When you first come into prison, you’re handed a manual that outlines the prison rules and your part in them. The manual says you have certain rights, but if the guards are in a punitive mood, such rights are routinely denied. You have no access to the courts until you have complied with an in-house administrative appeal procedure from Hell that is deliberately designed to deny ANY access to a court.
Ahhh yes, Elkton. It was my habit to go to the main TV room as early as possible in the morning for both quiet and uninterrupted news. One morning a friend shuffled in, and asked me to check his pulse which was quite erratic and his breathing somewhat labored. He had returned the prior evening after open heart surgery. The guard advised him to go to sick call, which was more than 30 minutes away. After I checked his pulse, he got the guard’s attention when he lifted his shirt and showed her his huge stapled-together Frankenstein scar. She offered to call ahead so he could WALK across the compound to the medical facility before sick call. After some negotiation she agreed to request a gurney.
It turns out that at intake the prior night, he was denied the medication prescribed to stabilize his heart. Apparently all medications must be approved by the pharmacy staff, none of whom were on duty at night. The moral of the story: don’t get seriously ill in prison.
Very sad
Why was it mentioned that he was a sex offender? Did this have anything to do with the way he was treated. Or is this just typical negligent homicide that prisons practice on a regular basis?
Personal dealings with jails leads me to think refusing medical attention to those held there is just normal procedure. They don’t care if you die . That just saves them money.
I think it did. Although everyone was treated badly in there, anyone with a sex crime was treated badly by guards and they even passed out flyers with all the offenders offenses to each inmate. Luckily I only had to prove once I knew how to fight to the death to gain some respect. Both of us went to confinement even though he started it. Being a snitch also doesn’t gain you any respect so both of us denied fighting and said we were horse playing. We still got locked up but I gained some cred for not snitching on getting jumped.
not surprised to an RSO i am however surprised this happened in VT not a state known for inhumanity (probably Bernie Sanders fault) =)