A TROUBLED HISTORY

What else could go wrong at Augusta State Medical Prison? In a few months’ time over the past year, these problems have come to light:

■ Guards who beat inmates. In April 2017, three former guards were sentenced to probation for beating an inmate whose hands were cuffed behind his back. In July of that year, the Southern Center for Human Rights filed a federal lawsuit claiming a dozen inmates, many of them severely disabled, had been beaten by officers. The suit is pending in federal court.

■ Unsafe and unsanitary conditions. In a series of stories, the AJC detailed how trash was piled up outside the operating room, attracting flies and mosquitoes to the OR, and how other parts of the hospital had dirty floors and counters, leaking ceilings, black mold and other sanitation issues. Later, the AJC revealed that conditions were even worse, making the facility a breeding ground for infection.

■ Hospital staff fleeing.

The AJC reported that security lapses were causing nurses and others to leave in fear for their lives.

■ Medical negligence.

Dr. Timothy Young, who resigned his position as director of the facility’s outpatient clinic in January, told the AJC that the prison system has failed to hold doctors accountable when their negligence caused inmate deaths.

■ Potentially deadly delays for medical care. Thousands of inmates were waiting months to undergo recommended tests or consult with specialists because of a massive backlog in the Department of Corrections’ approval process, the AJC reported last year. ■ Secret recordings.

The hospital’s top administrator was forced out after being caught secretly recording conversations with other corrections officials.