By Kelly Monitz
Standard-Speaker
HAZLETON, Pa. — Carbon County Commissioner Tom Gerhard would like to see state regulations regarding personal hygiene of prisoners change after a second outbreak of scabies was confirmed at the county correctional facility last week.
The first outbreak occurred two years ago, and prison officials last week learned of one confirmed case of scabies, which is the infestation of the skin by the human itch mite.
While only one prisoner is affected, prison officials treated all of the inmates in that cellblock as a precaution, Deputy Warden Timothy Fritz said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, scabies spreads rapidly in crowded conditions, where close body contact is frequent, and outbreaks often occur in institutions such as nursing homes and prisons.
Symptoms include intense itching and a pimple-like skin rash, and scabies is spread by direct, prolonged skin-to-skin contact with someone who has scabies, the CDC said.
Some prisoners complained about feeling itchy after learning that another inmate had scabies, but medical staff at the prison determined there were no other cases, Fritz said.
Prison employees are also taking extra precautions, such as wearing gloves and washing their hands frequently, he said. Fritz explained that the scabies mite isn’t lurking in the prison and it dies without a human host.
Scabies can be curbed by good personal hygiene, Fritz said.
The mother of the infested inmate, Mary Theresa Gutosky of Weatherly, said her son, Christian Bennett, was not unclean and he even told her that recently.
“My son was never dirty,” she said.
Gutosky complained about the overcrowding at the facility, the medical staff which didn’t correctly diagnose her son for months and a system that acts as a revolving door for offenders. Her son is serving time for a parole violation, she said.
“They should get proper health care. They need it,” Gutosky said.
After medical staff tried several different remedies for Bennett’s skin condition, he asked to see a dermatologist, who immediately diagnosed the condition as scabies, she said.
Fritz confirmed that Bennett visited the medical staff on several occasions as they worked toward a solution until a skin specialist was called.
The diagnosis, however, took too long, Gutosky said, as her son has had the rash-like condition for months and lived in several different cellblocks during that time. She wonders if her son encountered scabies while working in the prison laundry or on work release, she said.
Fritz did not believe Bennett had lived in any other area of the prison since his diagnosis or early treatment.
Gerhard, who is chairman of the county prison board, spoke to Gutosky about her son and she also told him that “he’s a clean kid.”
“I don’t know how it happened,” Gerhard said of Bennett’s infestation. “We’re taking steps to decrease the (number of) times (outbreaks) happen.”
In addition to precautions at the prison, the sheriff’s department requested gloves for handling prisoners, which adult probation supplied, he said.
Gerhard also reached out to state Sen. John Yudichak, D-14, and Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-122, about changing a state regulation on inmates’ personal hygiene. Prisoners are only required to shower twice a week under Title 37, he said.
Gerhard would like to see that increased to at least every second day, especially in the summer months, he said.
Scabies outbreaks are going to happen, according to Gerhard, who called them unfortunate and said he hopes their frequency can be reduced. This outbreak cost Carbon taxpayers more than $1,100 for medication for about 29 inmates and the fumigation of the cellblock, he said.