Lack of Hepatitis C Treatment Brings Lawsuit Against DOC

A class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of PA prisoners in January, 2013 seeking injunctive relief for the testing and treatment of Hepatitis C (HCV) without regard to sentence length. Current DOC protocols stall and deny treatment for the deadly virus depending on sentence length, which lawyers charge is unconstitutional.

Prison Legal News reported on the case of Jason Runkle, who was sentenced in 2010 on drug offenses for 18 months to 5 years. Upon intake at Camp Hill, Runkle’s blood test showed elevated levels of AST, ALT, bilirubin and a decrease in blood platelets, which is indicative of HCV and liver disease. Runkle was transferred to SCI Mercer, received a second blood test with the same results, and sought treatment.

Typical treatment for HCV consists of a 24 or 48 week antiviral medicine, depending on the specific genotype of the disease a person tests positive for. The current DOC protocol passes off treatment and intervention of the disease if a prisoner will be released in the near future. Prisoners are denied the 24 week treatment if their sentence is less than 12 months, and denied the 48 week treatment if their sentence is less than 18 months. Prisoners who are diagnosed withHCV but are time restricted receive palliative care (taking a Tylenol) at the chronic care clinic rather than treatment to cure the disease.

Runkle’s minimum date was June 2011, 33 weeks from the start of his incarceration. He served 6 months unsentenced at York County before entering the state prison. He was denied genotype testing to see if his strain qualified him for the 24 week program. He continued to seek treatment and was denied despite his sentence being extended each time he came up for parole. Even after the parole board recommended Runkle serve his max sentence of 5 years, he continued to be denied treatment by medical staff because he was still eligible for parole and could be paroled at any of his hearings within the possible treatment period. He effectively received no treatment despite being incarcerated for well over the time constraints.

Prison Legal News quoted former Secretary Jeffrey Beard’s American Correctional Association’s conference speech in 2002 about HCV testing and treatment in prison as a smart and necessary public health investment. Beard acknowledged that early disease perception and intervention would prevent costly treatment of complications later on and prevent a significant number of deaths in the prison (17% of prisoner deaths in PA in 2001). With the DOC’s sentence protocol and the pattern and practice of denying prisoners parole despite their minimums due to incomplete or full programs, or a lack of home plans in the current political and economic climate, prisoners with HCV remain at considerable risk to die in prison.