By Harvey Rice
The Houston Chronicle

Published July 17, 2008

GALVESTON — The outbreak of illness at the Galveston County Jail that officials suspect was caused by food poisoning was the third such case since 2002, according to court documents. 

Prisoners in the two previous outbreaks sued the Baton Rouge, La., company that provides meals to inmates under contract with the county, and both lawsuits were settled out of court, records show. 

At the height of the illness last week, 543 prisoners — about half the population of the jail — were suffering symptoms that included stomach cramps, diarrhea and vomiting. 

One prisoner was taken to the hospital because of severe dehydration, and at least six others were given fluids intravenously at the jail because of fluid loss, said jail commander Maj. Mike Henson. 

The first of two previous instances leading to lawsuits against jail food contractor ABL Management Inc. occurred Thanksgiving Day 2002 when a number of inmates became ill after eating cornbread stuffing that had been removed from tainted turkey, said Houston attorney Clement Aldridge Jr. 

Aldridge, who represented 186 inmates who claimed to be stricken after eating the stuffing, said ABL personnel discovered that turkey to be served for the holiday dinner was tainted. 

The turkey was taken off the menu, but the stuffing was removed and served, Aldridge said. Some prisoners were ill for as long as 10 days, while others suffered symptoms for only a few hours, he said. 

Aldridge said ABL agreed to settle the lawsuit by determining how much each prisoner in the lawsuit deserved. 

He declined to say how much inmates were paid, but a court document shows that ABL agreed to pay a maximum of $2,177 to each of 34 prisoners in the lawsuit. 

ABL did not respond to a request for comment. 

The second spate of illnesses at the jail occurred on March 27, 2004, after a lunch of tacos, Aldridge said. The second outbreak was less severe, and investigators from the Galveston County Health District were unable to determine whether food was the cause, Aldridge said. 

The symptoms were short-lived, he said, lasting a day or two in the worst cases. 

Aldridge declined to reveal the amounts in the settlement that ABL paid to the 67 prisoners he represented in the lawsuit, but said the individual settlements were smaller because of the shorter duration of the illness. 

In the investigation into the cause of the latest outbreak, health district investigators have sent stool specimens collected from 16 inmates to the Houston City laboratory to test for evidence of food poisoning, spokesman Kurt Koopmann said. 

He said testing was unable to find evidence of food poisoning in 14 samples, and investigators were awaiting results for the two remaining samples. 

Investigators also are examining the medical records of inmates treated by the jail medical staff for clues, but it's not certain that a cause will be found, Koopmann said.

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For More Information Contact:
Kurt Koopmann
Public Information Officer
Galveston County Health District
409-938-2211 or 409-392-0007
kkoopman@gchd.org