SAVANNAH, Ga. – The medical staff at a Georgia prison failed to treat an inmate who died from a severely infected tattoo he received while behind bars, a federal lawsuit filed Monday said.
The Southern Center for Human Rights filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Statesboro against Georgia Correctional Health, a contractor that provides medical care at Georgia State Prison in Reidsville. The suit was brought by a sister of 50-year-old Randall Davison, who died in February 2015.
Davison was near the end of a two-year sentence for violating his probation from prior convictions for drug and weapons possession when he had his forearm tattooed by a fellow inmate sometime between December 2014 and January 2015, the lawsuit said.
“About a week after receiving the tattoo, Mr. Davison’s forearm became dark red, swollen, and inflamed,” the lawsuit said “Mr. Davison did not receive medical treatment until he went into severe septic shock and multi-system organ failure, even though his symptoms clearly indicated that he required immediate treatment for infection.”
Georgia Correctional Health officials will not comment on the lawsuit while it’s pending, said spokeswomen Christen Carter. The Georgia Department of Corrections, which operates the Reidsville prison but was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit, also had no comment, said agency spokeswoman Gwendolyn Hogan.