This I/M (inmate) arrived at Perryville in November of 1997. She was 52 years old at the time, and had never smoked.
The AZDOC was always lax about enforcing the no-smoking in the room policy, but in the 90’s apparently it was non-existent. Her roommates smoke in the room with her. additionally, the cells are connected by ducts, so she got hit with smoke from others too, sort of like a gas chamber from which there is no escape.
In 2003 she started to notice she was short of breath. Then, in 2005 she was hospitalized for a “light” heart attack. This was when the doctors first diagnosed C.O.P.D from smoking. Of course, she told them she had never smoked in her life, but that she was continually subjected to second-hand smoke at the prison.
After I/M 1997 returned to Perryville her “provider” changed the diagnosis from C.O.P.D. to asthma! The prison doctors kept telling her to stop smoking, despite her insistence that she never smoked.
In 2006,, 2007, and 2008 this I/M was sent to hospital for various heart problems. Finally she was sent off-site to a pulmonary specialist, and her returned a verdict of C.O.P.D. due to second-hand smoke!
In December of 2018 she was informed that she has heart failure and her condition continues to deteriorate.