The death by starvation of a Kentucky prisoner has led the state to overhaul its protocol for dealing with hunger strikes, the Associated Press reported.
James Kenneth Embry was 57-years-old and had just three years left on a nine-year sentence for drug offenses when he began to spiral out of control in the spring of 2013 after he stopped taking anti-anxiety medication, according to the AP.
In December, about seven months later and after weeks of erratic behavior, Embry began to tell the prison staff he felt anxious and paranoid and began banging his head on his cell door, the AP reported.
Embry began to refuse most of his meals and by January, the time of his death, he had shed more than 30 pounds and died weighing just 138 pounds, according to documents reviewed by the AP.
After Embry died of starvation, a prison doctor was fired and two other staffers are in the process of being fired and Embry's death leads state and prison officials of producing new guidelines on how to deal with an inmate starving, according to the AP.
The new guidelines state an inmate is considered on a hunger strike when he says he's conducting one or stops eating and drinking for 72 hours, the AP reported. The inmate will remain on hunger strike watch until otherwise determined by the medical director for the Kentucky Department of Corrections.
After the inmate is recognized as being on a hunger strike, the nurse administrator, the Department of Corrections medical director and the warden must all be notified of the hunger strike within 24 hours of the protest beginning, according to the AP.
Afterwards, the medical staff at the prison must interview the inmate and take a complete physical assessment of the person, the AP reported. Within 12 hours of notification of a hunger strike taking place, a physical and mental evaluation of the inmate is to be scheduled and each step of the process needs to be documented in the inmate's health care record.
If the hunger strike lasts more than 72 hours, the inmate's vital signs, weight, mental status and hydration levels should be evaluated at least three times a week, according to the AP. A weekly referral to psychological services will be scheduled, unless otherwise noted.
After the hunger strike, inmates will go back to their housing unit unless the medical staff determines closer monitoring is needed, in which case the inmate may be moved to an area where medical care can be provided and closer observation can be conducted, the AP reported.
The nursing staff will arrange for the inmate to be offered food and fluids each shift and any refusal is to be documented, according to the AP.
The state prison can report the hunger strike as over when an inmate consumes food and fluids for 72 consecutive hours, but multiple lab tests are to be done with the results to be viewed by a medical doctor and psychiatric provider, the AP reported.
All of the information is sent to the Kentucky Department of Corrections medical director and the medical director for Correct Care Solutions, which provides medical care at the prisons and the medical director determines if the inmate will be taken off hunger strike status, according to the AP.
