Valley Fever outbreak plagues inmates in Central California prisons

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Apr 30, 2013

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Valley Fever outbreak plagues inmates in Central California prisons

Valley Fever is a fungal infection that's been cropping up at two prisons in Central California. On Monday, the federal official in charge of medical care in state prisons prisons ordered thousands of high-risk inmates out of these facilities because of the airborne disease.

An inmate is escorted from the new mental health treatment unit at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. The $24 million treatment center for mentally ill inmates opened on Thursday as state corrections officials used the occasion to push for ending federal oversight of that aspect of prison operations. The 44,000-square-foot building includes rooms where inmates will undergo individual, group and recreational outpatient therapy. It will be used to treat inmates who are seriously mentally ill but are able to function without around-the-clock care.

Valley Fever is a fungal infection that's been cropping up at two prisons in Central California. On Monday, the federal official in charge of medical care in state prisons prisons ordered thousands of high-risk inmates out of these facilities because of the airborne disease.

There's a disease that's killed more than 60 inmates over the past seven years: Valley Fever.

For more on this we're joined now by Don Specter, head of the Prison Law Office, a non-profit public interest law firm.