King County Jury Awards $52 Million Over Prison Tuberculosis Outbreak
A King County jury awarded over $52 million on Monday to a group of incarcerated people who contracted active tuberculosis after the Department of Corrections allegedly ignored symptoms from a person who spread the disease to over two dozen others, The Seattle Times reported. Individual plaintiff awards ranged from $200,000 to $5 million.
Outbreak Scale and Severity Inside Clallam Bay and Stafford Creek
The 2021 outbreak marked the largest tuberculosis outbreak in Washington state in 20 years, sickening 244 people with latent tuberculosis and 27 people with active tuberculosis across the Clallam Bay and Stafford Creek corrections centers, according to the Seattle Times. Incarcerated plaintiffs filing suit in 2024 detailed severe health impacts, including lengthy isolation, double-digit weight loss, and broken ribs triggered by violent coughing spasms.
The litigation also highlighted extreme medical consequences among the affected population. One incarcerated person fell into a vegetative state after the bacterial infection spread to his brain and spine, while another died by suicide during extended solitary confinement. A third person carried the disease out of the facility and unwittingly infected his infant daughter, according to the lawsuit.
Federal Investigators Link Pandemic Policy Shifts to Delayed Diagnoses
Federal investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that the Department of Corrections suspended annual tuberculosis screenings and shifted staff resources toward the COVID-19 pandemic response. That pivot delayed diagnoses and accelerated transmission inside the prisons. State labor regulators subsequently fined the department over $80,000 for endangering workers, citing willful violations for failing to enforce social distancing and mask mandates at Stafford Creek.
Patient zero, identified in court records as plaintiff Dennis Oya, first reported a cough to medical staff in December 2019 and requested emergency assistance a month later, only to be told to rest or treated for acid reflux. Despite medical records confirming a history of latent tuberculosis, the department skipped an X-ray in 2021 and delayed another in 2022. Oya was moved between facilities and housed in the general population while actively contagious before an X-ray confirmed active disease in January 2022.
Common Questions About the Washington Prison Tuberculosis Lawsuit
How many people fell ill during the 2021 outbreak?
State corrections facilities recorded 244 cases of latent tuberculosis and 27 cases of active tuberculosis during the outbreak at Clallam Bay and Stafford Creek corrections centers.
What penalties did state regulators issue to the Department of Corrections?
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries fined the corrections agency more than $80,000 for putting workers at risk by flouting pandemic safety measures, citing a willful serious violation for lax masking and distancing enforcement.
How much were individual plaintiffs awarded by the jury?
Jurors in King County awarded individual payouts ranging from $200,000 to $5 million to the incarcerated plaintiffs affected by the disease.