A Bridgeport resident has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Correction, alleging that the department failed to provide timely treatment for his cancer, resulting in the need for multiple rounds of chemotherapy and the removal of his bladder, lymph nodes and prostate. 

Glenn London, 61, entered Bridgeport Correctional Center in January 2023 for a nonviolent crime. During an intake exam with the prison’s medical department, he informed them that he had been seen at the VA medical center because he was urinating blood. The center, he said, had advised him to follow up with the urologist and mentioned a possibility of bladder cancer.  

But in the months that followed, London claims, the Department of Correction failed to get adequate treatment for him. When he was finally brought to the University of Connecticut Health Center in August 2023, they found a cancerous mass the size of a golf ball, according to the lawsuit.

London spoke about his case at a press conference earlier this month, where Barbara Fair, the executive director of Stop Solitary CT, referred to him as someone who had experienced medical neglect first-hand within the Department of Correction.

During the same press conference, London’s attorney, Ken Krayeske, referenced the legislature’s failure to compel Connecticut’s Department of Correction to release an independent report on some of the worst medical malpractice and neglect cases that happened in its custody.

“ We have an emergency room physician who has filed a good faith certificate with us explaining that what happened to Glenn was unconscionable. And this happened six years after we have the cancer cases of Wayne World and Billy Bennett and Patsy Camara,” Krayeske said at the press conference.

Waiting for appointments

London said he asked the staff at the Bridgeport Correctional Center if he could see a doctor when he first entered, in January 2023. But in the three days he was at the facility before posting bail, he wasn’t given any medical attention. 

In March, London went back into Bridgeport Correctional Center. He told The Connecticut Mirror that he’d been waiting since January to get an appointment through the VA medical center. The appointment he’d gotten, he said, was in March, and his incarceration made it impossible for him to go. 

According to the lawsuit, London had told medical staff at the Correctional Center in late March that he’d been urinating blood and asked to go to the emergency room. The medical staff suggested he drink more water. 

The following day, London went to court, where he asked the judge to have him brought to the emergency room. At the ER, he was told to follow up with a urologist within two weeks. But he was never sent for an appointment, the lawsuit claims. 

At his next court appearance in April, London again asked to be transported to the emergency room. The bleeding was getting worse, and London told CT Mirror that urinating was painful. This time, medical staff advised him to follow up with a urologist within two days. Once again, the request went ignored, according to the lawsuit. 

London said the Department of Correction did make an appointment for him to see a urologist but failed to first send him to have scans taken, meaning that the doctor was not able to make any treatment recommendations. After that appointment, which took place in April, the DOC made no further appointments for him, according to a grievance he filed in July. 

The Department of Correction responded that they had scheduled an appointment for London on July 11, which they said he refused — a claim that London disputes. 

It wasn’t until August 2023, when London was sentenced and transported to Carl Robinson Correctional Institution, that he was finally sent to UConn Medical Center, where, according to London, doctors discovered a mass in his bladder “as big as a golf ball.” The cancer was diagnosed as Stage 3A. 

“I was praying hard,” London said. “ It may not be a death threat, but I was really concerned. My children were concerned. I thought it was going to take me out, to be honest.” 

28 rounds of chemotherapy

London’s daughter, Karen London, who works as a patient care coordinator, said it was difficult for her, as someone working in the medical field, to not be able to advocate for her father. Finding out that the mass was cancer, she said, was a shock. She said she worried that her father might not get the best care. She also said it was difficult to get information about his condition and that she wasn’t able to be present while he was in chemotherapy. 

“I wasn’t able to be by his bedside during those treatments. There wasn’t any by-your-side. There wasn’t any emotional support for him, because I wasn’t able to be there,” she said. 

London ended up going through more than 28 rounds of chemotherapy, during which time he stayed at the medical unit at Osborn Correctional Institution. After being released on transitional supervision — similar to parole — in January 2024, he underwent a nine-hour surgery that March to remove his bladder, prostate and lymph nodes. 

He now lives with a urology bag, which he said limits his day-to-day mobility and causes a lot of emotional pain.  

“I can’t pick up my grandson in a normal way that any grandfather would want to pick him up,” he said. 

Karen London added that the idea that her father had to wear a urology bag was something she had to get used to. 

“My dad is one of those guys, he takes pride in his appearance, he’s a very sharp man. So knowing that he now had to walk around with a bag to urinate from mentally was just — wow. It was a shocker,” she said.  

London is asking for $10 million in monetary relief. 

He said the real goal of the lawsuit was to ensure that other inmates in the Department of Correction don’t have to go through the same difficulties. He referenced the death of a man held in Bridgeport Correctional about six months prior to London’s first incarceration there. According to a report, the man died after not receiving the proper care for his ALS and opiate withdrawal. 

Krayeske, London’s attorney, said that he’s litigated multiple cases against the Department of Correction — including the case of Wayne World, whose skin cancer was repeatedly misdiagnosed by the Department of Correction, and Karon Nealy Jr., a 19-year-old who died from lupus. Generally, the people whom he represents have already died in custody. 

“Glenn is a gifted speaker. It is not often that I have clients who can talk about what they experienced,” Krayeske told CT Mirror. 

Krayeske said he hoped that having someone who survived the inadequate care they received in the Department of Correction would spur changes within the system.

“I want a judge to hear what the state put Glenn through,” he said. 

Andrius Banevicius, public information officer for the Department of Correction, said the department does not comment on pending litigation.