Thursday, May 22, 2008 Last updated 12:06 a.m. PT

Suit filed over staph infections at jail Violation of rights of prisoners claimed

By LEVI PULKKINEN P-I REPORTER

Lawyers representing a former King County Jail inmate filed a class-action lawsuit Wednesday claiming that jail conditions are so poor that they violate inmates' constitutional rights.

Filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, the lawsuit contends that jail officials failed to stop the spread of a highly infectious strain of staph infection called MRSA.

During a five-month period beginning in September, at least 65 inmates were diagnosed with MRSA; one inmate afflicted with MRSA and a flesh-eating bacterium died while in custody.

The plaintiff, 40-year-old Matthew Wisecarver, suffered serious injuries when surgeons were forced to dig into his hand to remove a MRSA infection he contracted in jail, said his attorney, Ed Budge of Seattle.

Wisecarver didn't receive treatment for the infection until he was released from jail, where he was being held pending trial on domestic violence charges. ...

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