Jail let mentally disabled man starve to death, lawsuit says
Source: cnn
(CNN)Arrested for stealing $5.05 of sweets and soda, a 24-year-old who doctors repeatedly diagnosed as psychotic and delusional was left to essentially starve to death over four months in a squalid Virginia jail cell, Jamycheal Mitchell's aunt alleged in a federal lawsuit.
By the time Mitchell died in August -- officially, of a heart condition "accompanying wasting syndrome of unknown etiology" -- jail staff had allegedly denied him many meals, cut off the water to his cell and left him naked with no bedding or shoes as he smeared feces on the window of his urine-covered cell, the lawsuit states, citing numerous inmates who served time with Mitchell.
Mitchell lost about 40 pounds during his time in jail, documents say. A medical examiner said he was "nearly cachectic," meaning his weight loss could not be reversed via nutrition.
Wasting syndrome and cachectic are terms most often used with sufferers of chronic disease such as cancer and AIDS.
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Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/16/us/jamycheal-mitchell-hampton-roads-virginia-jail-lawsuit/
GreenPartyVoter
(72,377 posts)downeastdaniel
(497 posts)Iggo
(47,489 posts)Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)The governor (or whatever the American term is for prison chief,) should be charged with corporate manslaughter. But I bet he stays in post.
Just googled his image, and it's no surprise to find he's black.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)Whenever I read about stuff like this I can't help but think of him.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)Our judicial system is a lot less punitive. Not that I'm particularly worried in that respect, my son's incredibly law abiding. More than me in fact.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)Jails should at the very least be segregated if people who are sick are jailed.
Bad Dog
(2,025 posts)My son has an incredibly positive attitude it's just that in different circumstances who knows what could happen.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)rdking647
(5,113 posts)Victor_c3
(3,557 posts)I don't get it.
gregcrawford
(2,382 posts)... is so common that you have to wonder if those they recruit as COs even qualify as human. Only psychotic monsters devoid of humanity could do something like this.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)area where it is common to think that mental illness is some kind of punishment from god or fake then these guards probably fit that definition. That stereotype is a very common thing that is behind many kinds of discrimination.