Inmates at Mississippi prison were exposed to dangerous chemicals, denied health care, lawsuit says

A federal lawsuit claims inmates at a Mississippi prison were forced to mix raw cleaning chemicals without protective equipment

JACKSON, Miss. -- Inmates at a Mississippi prison were forced to mix raw cleaning chemicals without protective equipment, with one alleging she later contracted terminal cancer and was denied timely medical care, a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges.

Susan Balfour, 62, was incarcerated for 33 years at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility until her release in December 2021. Prisoners were required to clean the facility, without protective equipment, using chemicals that might cause cancer, Balfour's lawsuit says.

Balfour contracted terminal breast cancer, a condition that prison health care providers failed to identify years ago because they could save money by not performing necessary medical screenings and treatment, the lawsuit filed in the U.S. Southern District of Mississippi contends.

“I feel betrayed by our system that failed to provide timely medical care for me. I feel hopeless, I feel angry, I feel bitterness. I feel shock and disbelief of this going on with me at a time when I'm getting ready to get out (of prison),' Balfour said in an interview Tuesday. ”It is too much to take in, that this is happening to me."

The companies contracted to provide health care to prisoners at the facility — Wexford Health Sources, Centurion Health and VitalCore — delayed or failed to schedule follow-up cancer screenings for Baflour even though they had been recommended by prison physicians, the lawsuit says.