[A] Vermont inmate imprisoned in Pennsylvania says he has been denied treatment for failing eyesight, and may go blind as a result.
Joshua Darling, 33, who is serving time for a 2006 conviction for a drug-involved kidnapping and manslaughter, sued the Vermont Department of Corrections last week in the civil division of Washington Superior Court.
According to the lawsuit and interviews with Seth Lipschutz, director of the state prisoners’ rights office, Darling has been experiencing pain and suffering from headaches related to his eye condition. He has a glass right eye and has gradually lost vision in his left eye.
Darling had cataract surgery in 2014 and, later that year, had a follow-up surgery to fix what Lipschutz described as “clouding and smearing” of the artificial lens installed during the first operation. His vision improved enough so he was able to work as a cook at the prison where he was housed, Lipschutz said.
But new clouding and smearing of the lens has since occurred and rendered Darling so visually impaired that he has to place his hand on the shoulder of a fellow inmate to be led around at Pennsylvania’s State Correctional Institute in Camp Hill.
Medical records provided by the prisoners’ rights office show that he was allowed to see a Pennsylvania ophthalmologist in September, who recommended a new round of laser surgery to restore Darling’s vision. That hasn’t happened, Lipschutz said.
At the same time, Darling has experienced retinal tears in the past to the extent that another one could leave him blind, Lipschutz said. That could be caused by a trip and fall, a sort of incident that becomes more likely as a person’s vision fails, he added.
Darling wrote in the lawsuit, which he initiated and the prisoners’ rights office later joined, that “Camp Hill medical staff are on record saying that, per the (contract between the two states under which Vermont sends inmates to Camp Hill), Camp Hill is not able to treat the increased loss of vision in the remaining eye unless Vermont’s Corrections Department approves it. Camp Hill medical advised me that VT-DOC refuses to approve of the treatment.”
He added, “The ONLY way that I am able to get the treatment I need … is if I am returned to Vermont.”
Mike Touchette, Vermont’s deputy commissioner of corrections, said in an email that health privacy laws prevent him from commenting on Darling’s case in detail.
Touchette wrote in an email, “I am however aware of this case and am assured the appropriate health services are being provided. If Mr. Darling continues to have concerns about his health care, it would be advisable for him to follow the processes established in PA to address them.”
The Darling case is the latest in a growing number of complaints that Vermont inmates are receiving inadequate medical care at Camp Hill. VTDigger was the first to report in detail on the Oct. 15 death of inmate Roger Brown, who advocates said experienced pain amounting to torture for weeks before his stage 4 metastatic lung cancer was diagnosed just days before his death at Camp Hill.
Since then, at least two other Vermont inmates have died due to medical conditions after being housed at Camp Hill.
Other inmates have complained of abusive treatment by staff at the Pennsylvania prison.
One Vermont inmate said he was sexually assaulted by a Camp Hill staff member; another inmate was chained by wrist and ankle to the floor of his cell for more than three days, according to inmate letters to VTDigger. Inmates have taken to calling the prison “Camp Hell.”
“The people of Vermont really need to know what’s going on with Vermonters in Pennsylvania,” one inmate wrote. “The people need to know how their tax money is being spent. It’s not worth the pain and suffering that Vermonters are going through at Camp Hill!”
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections spokeswoman Amy Worden said in a November email to VTDigger that inmate medical conditions are treated according to community standards.
Lipschutz said it’s “unlawful” that Darling has not received laser eye surgery. “In the community he would get this,” Lipschutz said. “More than that, it’s mean, nasty, immoral and sad.”
Editor’s note: This updates an earlier version of the story to clarify that while Darling acted as his own lawyer initially and wrote the lawsuit filed Feb. 5, the prisoners’ rights office officially signed on as providing him legal counsel on Feb. 8.
