FCI Gilmer inmates report history of poor medical treatment and living conditions

On Jan. 23, 2023, two days after he heard the pop, Carpenter says X-rays were taken in the medical department at Federal Correctional Institution Gilmer, the medium-security prison for men in Gilmer County where he was incarcerated.

But Carpenter says he went without an icepack, pain reliever and surgery, even after he was told in FCI Gilmer’s medical department 12 days after the injury he would soon be scheduled for surgery because he needed it, per the results of a CT scan at Mon Health Stonewall Jackson Memorial Hospital some 30 miles away. Carpenter said he learned he had an Achilles tendon tear.

It wasn’t until eight weeks after the injury that Carpenter says a surgeon in Huntington told him he needed to have had surgery at least two weeks prior and would face complications from the delay, including a high chance of a foot infection from surgery because it had become unclear which tissue was damaged.

Carpenter said he finally got the surgery on April 12, 82 days after the injury.

Eight months later, Carpenter told the Gazette-Mail he believed he was permanently disabled because he was still in a wheelchair and could only take a few steps before his leg weakened.

Carpenter said FCI Gilmer’s delay in facilitating his surgery is one of many examples of what he called “deliberate indifference� to serious medical needs since he arrived there in 2019. He says that he never received treatment for high cholesterol or a low white blood cell count, and that a planned appointment with a cardiologist was continuously delayed after he was prescribed medication that causes a slower heartbeat.

“[T]his is just a brief history of the inadequate medical care and deceptive tactics given to me by BOP medical staff,� Carpenter wrote to the Gazette-Mail of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) staff at FCI Gilmer.

In August 2024, Carpenter filed a still unresolved federal complaint alleging FCI Gilmer medical staff negligence delayed needed surgery, resulting in permanent injury to his Achilles tendon and requiring walking aid.

Carpenter is not alone among those who have been incarcerated at FCI Gilmer in reporting medical mistreatment at the prison.

Over an 18-month period, eight current and former FCI Gilmer inmates told the Gazette-Mail they endured medical negligence and inhumane living conditions at the prison, communicating via an electronic messaging system used by inmates and handwritten letters.

The reports from the inmates fit with what independent reports have determined is a pattern of lax medical oversight throughout the BOP.

“[T]his place here is a nightmare on [E]lm [S]treet,� then-FCI Gilmer inmate Lashon Stuckey said in December 2023.

'They just don't care here'

In December 2023, then-FCI Gilmer inmate Ross Thacker told the Gazette-Mail the facility allowed his medical issues to become worse by not addressing them. Neglect of a chronic stomach infection for two years caused Thacker stomach ulcers and constant pain, he said.

That same month, then-FCI Gilmer inmate Jason Smith said three months earlier a FCI Gilmer corrections officer smashed his face against a wall. Smith said the facility “trash[es]� informal complaints from inmates, hoping they’re not filed again.

FCI Gilmer inmate Charles House told the Gazette-Mail he was told not to check his blood sugar — despite being diabetic — after arriving at FCI Gilmer in August 2023, 11 months after he suffered a heart attack.

FCI Gilmer inmate David Hueston wrote to the Gazette-Mail in April 2024 he had to go forego lung treatment “because they just don't care here,� despite suffering from a rare lung disease, wait 15 months for a CT scan and be subjected needlessly to medical reevaluation after the facility threw away his Neurontin, a medication that can treat seizures and pain caused by shingles.

Victor Fierro, another FCI Gilmer inmate, said in August 2024 staff dismissed his complaints about the left side of his head going numb after he had his eye poked while playing basketball.

“[I] don’t know who else to go to or what proper channels to take to solve this problem [I’m] having,� Fierro said, complaining that he had been waiting months for a response from facility staff to formal and informal complaints he filed regarding his injury.

“The neglect has become the norm to all inmates here at FCI Gilmer when dealing with medical staff,� Thacker said in December 2023.

'There is no excuse'

That month, Stuckey said he had been neglected at the prison after he had suffered a broken neck when he fell from a top bunk he never should have been assigned since he has a history of seizures. Stuckey said he went without physical therapy for neck rotation and balance issues that was recommended by his surgeon.

Stuckey had fallen at FCI Pollock, a medium-security prison in Louisiana, in May 2023 and was transferred to FCI Gilmer roughly six months later, he indicated.

“[W]hen you have valid issues against staff they try to block it, by either denying or waiting on your filing and then allege[d]ly shredding the forms,� Stuckey said.

Stuckey’s Metairie, Louisiana-based attorney Glenn McGovern told the Gazette-Mail in August 2024 that prison staff had deprived him of shoes and again were keeping him in an upper bunk.

“So it’s gotten worse,� McGovern said in a phone interview.

In an August 2024 letter to FCI Gilmer Warden Robert Brown, McGovern said Stuckey was being “grossly neglected� at FCI Gilmer, with Stuckey reporting severe numbness in his toes, light-headedness and loss of balance that he believed were linked to his “ongoing condition and inadequate care.� As of July 2024, McGovern wrote, Stuckey hadn’t been supplied with proper mattresses or pillows to prevent further injury despite being approved by the facility to receive those materials.

“There is no excuse for your continuous lack of response to our office, but more importantly, Mr. Stuckey and his serious, emergent medical needs,� McGovern wrote.

'Sad how we are treated here'

Those who have experienced incarceration at FCI Gilmer say mistreatment there has gone beyond medical negligence.

Thacker said daily staff misconduct ranged from obscene language and sexual harassment to mail tampering and verbal threats.

House said prison staff put him on a 30-day commissary and phone restriction without an incident report to explain the disciplinary action. House and other inmates said lockdowns restricting them to their cells for extended periods are arbitrary and imposed for dubious reasons, including fistfights and unexplained “medical emergencies,� lasting for up to weeks at a time.

“[I]t’s sad how we are treated here at FCI Gilmer,� House said.

No FCI Gilmer comment on individual inmate allegations 

FCI Gilmer executive assistant Jonathan Watson declined to comment on individual inmates’ allegations, saying in an email the prison doesn’t discuss conditions of confinement for any individual in its custody “[f]or privacy, safety and security reasons.�

Watson denied, without explanation, a formal request filed by the Gazette-Mail to tour the prison, and denied a request for an interview with facility leadership.

Watson referred to an overview of BOP health services on the agency’s website and said it “provides essential medical, dental, and mental health services in a manner consistent with accepted community standards for a correctional environment.� 

Medical care afforded to BOP inmates is primarily provided by full-time agency staff and supplemented by service contracts with local health care providers, Watson said.

BOP staff responsible for oversight of service contracts regularly monitor compliance with contracted health care services, Watson said. Watson contended that all inmates have daily and regular access to psychological and medical care.

Regarding allegations of misconduct, Watson said the BOP “takes seriously our duty to protect the individuals entrusted in our custody, as well as maintain the safety of correctional employees and the community.�

'Extreme lack of medical care'

Like Carpenter, Stuckey has taken to federal court to seek justice for what he says was a BOP failure to provide adequate medical attention.

Stuckey says that failure extends far beyond FCI Gilmer’s walls.

In February 2025, Stuckey filed an unresolved federal complaint alleging “institutional gross negligence and lack of medical care� while incarcerated at FCI Pollock alleging chronic head, shoulder, neck and back pain as well as cervical and neurological injuries lingering from an “extreme lack of medical care.�

His severe neck pain had been exacerbated by negligence at both FCI Pollock and FCI Gilmer, according to the complaint, which seeks compensatory damages and other damages for pain and suffering, permanent injury and loss of mobility due to cervical fractures and attorney’s fees.

BOP medical negligence has continued to hurt Stuckey since he was transferred to FCI Hazelton, a medium-security prison in Preston County, he and McGovern said.

Comparatively high inmates-to-officers ratio at FCI Gilmer 

FCI Gilmer has 1,191 incarcerated individuals, according to BOP data. Watson said last month the prison was staffed at roughly 85% capacity.

But FCI Gilmer has a history of having an inmate-to-correctional officers ratio close to the 15-to-1 ratio threshold at which the BOP is required to report incidents involving use of deadly force, any role staffing levels may have played in the incident and a plan to prevent recurrence.

FCI Gilmer’s inmate-to-correctional officers ratio of 12.6-to-1 was second-highest among 16 institutions and the highest among six medium-security sites in the BOP’s mid-Atlantic region as of March 31, 2023, according to agency data. FCI Gilmer’s ratio was sixth-highest among the agency’s 31 medium-security institutions nationwide.

There were 27 deaths recorded at FCI Gilmer from January 2005 to August 2024, according to data published by the Data Liberation Project, an initiative to obtain and disseminate government data sets. “Cardiac� was the most commonly listed cause of death, covering 12 of the 27 recorded deaths.

The BOP has not responded to a Gazette-Mail request for inmate death data under the Freedom of Information Act.

History of Hazelton correctional complex concern   

Carpenter, Thacker and Stuckey are now incarcerated at FCI Thomson in Illinois, FCI Greenville in Illinois and FCI Hazelton, respectively. The Hazelton federal correctional complex in Preston County includes FCI Hazelton and a high-security penitentiary. Stuckey said this month FCI Hazelton has denied him medical cervical pillows. 

In 2023, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and then-Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., were among a bipartisan group of senators who called on the Department of Justice and BOP to investigate what they said were whistleblower reports of abusive treatment at Hazelton.

Those reports alleged staff forced incarcerated individuals to urinate and defecate on themselves as a condition of being released from restrictive custody, urinated on prisoner property and broke an individual’s ribs in an assault.

Last year, three former Hazelton penitentiary correctional officers pleaded guilty to civil rights-violating roles in the 2019 assault of a prisoner and subsequent coverup after charges were brought in 2023.

FCI Gilmer: All employees are correctional officers first 

Using staff with a noncustodial focus — like medical personnel and case managers — to conduct correctional officer duties, a practice prompted by chronic understaffing known as augmentation, has been a concern at FCI Gilmer and throughout BOP facilities.

Watson called augmentation “one tool to ensure Correctional Officer posts are covered on a daily basis.�

Watson said all employees assigned to FCI Gilmer and other correctional facilities are considered correctional workers first, regardless of their occupation.

Independent reports of significant BOP deficiencies

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General released a report finding the bureau’s response to medical emergencies was often insufficient due to a lack of clear communication, urgency or proper equipment. The office found “significant shortcomings� in BOP staff emergency responses to almost half of inmate deaths it reviewed.

The OIG found those shortcomings included a lack of urgency in responding, failure to bring or use appropriate emergency equipment and issues with naloxone administration.

The OIG reviewed 344 inmate deaths at BOP institutions from fiscal years 2014 through 2021.

A 2023 OIG report found overcrowding persisted at medium- and high-security BOP institutions despite an overall declining federal inmate population and that the BOP lacked a well-defined infrastructure strategy.

Last week, the DOJ OIG released a report finding what it called “serious operational and managerial deficiencies� the BOP must address to ensure that inmates get proper screening and treatment for colorectal cancer, one of the most common cancers in the U.S.

The report pointed out vacancies in key areas of responsibility and affecting prioritization of routine screening. Interviewees reported staffing shortages often mean that employees must prioritize addressing urgent medical needs and daily responsibilities over preventative care.

The U.S. has long had the world’s highest prison population rate, causing prison reform advocates to tout alternatives to incarceration.

'Overall poor treatment of us'

Those who have been incarcerated at FCI Gilmer suggest that while it’s no game, they’re desperate for any kind of referee to protect them from foul play.

“[T]hey make up rules as they go here an[d] very seldom follow policy,� House said.

“The staff here just do what they want,� Smith said.

What inmates at FCI Gilmer have wanted is care that doesn’t threaten to shorten their already restricted lives.

“[T]here is a lot of intimidation, physical abuse, mass punishment, and overall poor treatment of us offenders here at [FCI G]ilmer,� House said.