Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 8, 1993 TAG: 9303080112
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Long
UNCERTAINTY, PUBLIC SUSPICION HAUNT GUARDS ON AIDS
UNEASY GUARDS from the Pulaski Correctional Unit must confront their fears\ today at a court hearing for an inmate they suspect tried to infect them with\ the AIDS-causing virus.\Steve Montgomery wonders if the scratch on his hand is healing properly after three months.
He's disgusted when a longtime friend says he doesn't know whether to shake hands with him.
Randy Brooks wonders what to say to his children, how to react when an inmate says something, and how to deal with the looks and whispers of others.
Dave Ayers said a barber used scissors on him, explaining he didn't use electric clippers anymore. Ayers believes the barber was afraid of nicking him and drawing blood because the electric clipper was used on the next customer.
The three men, all officers at the Pulaski Correctional Unit near Dublin, say these are but a few examples of insensitivity they've experienced since they were attacked Dec. 16 by an inmate who said he would give them AIDS.
Media accounts of the incident have been unclear or not understood by many people, who assume that the guards are now HIV-positive, they say.
They are not, but at least two of the officers will have periodic testing to see if AIDS antibodies are present.
Just as they are tired of rumor and innuendo, the guards are also tired of people who try to minimize the possibility that any of them will get AIDS as a result of the struggle with the inmate.
"They were not in there," Ayers said.
Ayers, 46, a sergeant with 18 years of correctional experience, wonders how officers are supposed to be prepared "when a person is using his body for a weapon" and "hands are the only weapon you have."
The officers were exposed to blood, saliva and sweat.
"`I can't feel clean. People won't shake your hand. They say stupid things to you in public," Montgomery, 50, a captain at the correctional unit, said.
Here is what happened Dec. 16, according to Montgomery:
The inmate, Frank Darryl Allen, 35, had threatened an officer in one of the dormitories in front of other inmates at about 6:45 p.m.
At 7:05, Montgomery listened to the inmate's side of the story in his office. Montgomery told the inmate he would be placed in segregated facilities. The inmate "said he wasn't going and we were not going to put cuffs on him."
A 15-minute struggle began.
"That's when we got hurt," Montgomery said.
Ayers, 46, a sergeant, was hit in the mouth with an elbow, and two teeth were loosened so much that they were later removed.
Montgomery had both his hands scratched, sprained his wrist and strained an elbow and right knee.
Brooks, 30, who has worked at Camp One for almost four years, was bitten twice. He prefers not to say where.
Brooks said he cleaned his own wounds that night. The next night, when another guard was bitten, he cleaned his wounds, too.
Although segregated from the rest of the dormitory population, the inmate was allowed normal privileges. Officers, including Brooks, had to go into his cell because he was threatening to start a fire with a pile of clothing, bedding and newspapers.
The officers wore gloves into the cell.
Officer Richard Manning was bitten during a struggle when attempts were made to cuff the inmate.
"We gave him several opportunities," Brooks said, including opening a door so he could slide the pile out. But the inmate "told us where to go and how to get there and offered to help."
Brooks said the inmate said, "Die [expletive], die."
Montgomery said that after the second incident, Allen showed an officer a cut inside his mouth. Montgomery said he wiped bloody spit from the walls and the floor of the cell after the incident.
Manning did not participate in the interview, and it is unclear what his plans are. Brooks and Montgomery will have blood tests later this month. Ayers said he has not been tested because his injuries were only an elbow-blow to the mouth that loosened his teeth.
"Everyone thinks I was bitten," Ayers said, and that he's carrying the AIDS virus. But his skin was not broken and he is not undergoing tests.
The national Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has said that if the AIDS virus has been transmitted, the tests will show the antibodies after six to 12 weeks in more than 50 percent of the cases. By six months, the antibodies appear in more than 95 percent of the cases if the virus is present.
No AIDS infections were reported to be transmitted by biting in any of the 242,146 cases recorded through September, a spokeswoman said in January.
Medical authorities say the AIDS virus can be transmitted only through direct contact with contaminated blood, semen and vaginal fluids.
The officers say they entered their careers knowing the usual dangers of law enforcement work. But AIDS is an unknown killer, Montgomery said.
"I should be scared of being stabbed. I should be scared of being beaten. I should be scared of being a hostage," Montgomery said.
"If you get cut, it don't take seven years to die," Brooks said.
"Getting stabbed, you've got a good change of surviving," Montgomery said. "AIDS is 100 percent."
The three officers said they don't often talk to each other about the incident or their fears. It would probably take days for them to calm down from a 90-minute interview Friday, they said. And today, they'll be in Pulaski County General District Court and are worried about what they will go through there.
Allen is scheduled for a preliminary hearing today on charges of assaulting the four officers. Allen, who is serving a 10-year sentence for breaking and entering and grand larceny, was transferred to the Augusta Correctional Unit on Dec. 18.
"We avoid the subject altogether," Brooks said. "You try to get it out of your mind."
But, he said, "you can't forget it."
"People can't imagine me walking back through this gate," Brooks said of returning to his job.
While it would be best if the incident had never happened, Brooks said, the next best thing would be to learn that the 18 months of testing were over, "and I'm still clean."