Prisoner in Coma After Months of Neglect: Family Denied Full Visitation Rights

Johnny Dunson's (Corcoran inmate H23912) mother continues to be denied visitation rights to her son, who lies dying at Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield, handcuffed to a bed there. Corcoran Prison officials denied him treatment for three months despite three months of high fevers, vomiting and blackouts. Corcoran officials neglected to fill his antibiotic prescription and, at the same, time misprescribed an ointment that caused Johnny allergic reactions. After dropping from 300-plus pounds to under 150 pounds in two weeks, Johnny was transferred to Mercy Hospital.

During this time Johnny’s family was not told of his condition or his whereabouts. It was only after hiring an attorney to write a letter, and an appeal to their Senator did they find out where their son was. What they learned at the hospital was that their son had Valley Fever and meningitis. It appears that without treatment the disease developed into the disseminated form, which is devastating and can be fatal. This form spreads beyond the lungs through the bloodstream - typically to the skin, bones, and the membranes surrounding the brain, causing meningitis.

Despite the brain damage Johnny had sustained, and despite his poor condition, Mercy doctor Koyotama cleared his transfer back to Corcoran medical center where less expensive and less effective drugs would be used to treat him, drugs Koyotama knew his body to have rejected.

The next thing Johnny’s mother found out was that he had suffered a stroke and had been transferred back to Mercy in a coma. After doctors initially refused to pass on any information about Johnny’s condition, and prison officials refused to pass on anything even on his whereabouts, she has now been informed that he is terminal.

The Meningitis developed as a result of Valley Fever is contagious. We must ask, is Johnny the only reported case of Valley Fever? Reports from the prison indicate that another prisoner has recently been removed from the prison with this disease. Why have the prisoners, their families and the public at large not been informed?

At Corcoran, Johnny has served as the Chairman of the Men’s Advisory Council, where he has been until now working with the warden for positive change in the prison. Last year, he mediated and was instrumental in preventing a riot.

Please contact Johnny’s mother, Renee Morrison, for further information or to provide assistance of any kind at (510) 681-7235.