Left To Die

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-a-virginia-jail-a-young-man-wasted-away-and-died--and-no-one-bothered-to-notice/2016/06/09/61d90668-2e63-11e6-9de3-6e6e7a14000c_story.html The Post's View In a Virginia jail, a young man wasted away and died — and no one bothered to notice Jamycheal Mitchell, 24, died at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail on Aug. 19, 2015. By Editorial Board June 10 A MENTALLY ill black man, just 24 years old, is arrested in April 2015 for shoplifting a Mountain Dew, a Snickers bar and a Zebra Cake — total cost: $5 — from a convenience store in Virginia. He languishes in jail for 14 weeks, refusing medicine, his weight plummeting, his cell smeared with feces. After 101 days, having lost more than 40 pounds — literally wasting away, as a starving man does — he dies. And no one noticed a thing, until it was too late. The first and hastiest investigation was done by the facility where Mitchell starved to death, the Hampton Roads Regional Jail. Scarcely a week after his body was discovered, jail officials concluded their probe, pronounced themselves blameless — and released not an iota of information. The next two investigations, by Virginia’s Office of the State Inspector General and the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, were no more edifying. The inspector general, citing guidance from the state attorney general, said it lacked jurisdiction to question jail personnel, thereby raising doubts about the utility of its existence. And the DBHDS, in thousands of turgid words, did not bother to address or, so far as can be determined, even ask about the most glaring failure of all: How could no one have noticed that a man was wasting away in plain sight? The scandal here is multidimensional. It’s a disgrace Mitchell spent 101 days in jail on a $5 shoplifting rap. It’s a disgrace he wasn’t transferred to a nearby state mental-health hospital, as a judge repeatedly ordered. (The hospital didn’t receive and then didn’t see the order until after Mitchell’s death.) It’s a disgrace that months went by before anyone at the jail intervened to take Mitchell to the emergency room. It’s a disgrace the jail taped over video footage taken outside Mitchell’s cell that might have added information. It’s a disgrace the jail absolved itself of all responsibility, while releasing no information. And it’s a disgrace state investigators, after spending months on probes, either couldn’t or wouldn’t ask the right questions to the relevant people. State advocates for the mentally ill have asked for a Justice Department civil rights investigation. That would be a good, and sadly necessary, start in unraveling the disgrace of Jamycheal Mitchell’s death. >Update Family sueing for $60 Million http://wtkr.com/2016/05/10/family-of-portsmouth-man-found-dead-in-jail-files-60-million-lawsuit/ Posted 4:27 pm, May 10, 2016, by Web Staff, Updated at 03:13pm, May 20, 2016 ---------------------------------------- Hampton Roads Regional Jail responds to accusations of threats to inmates Posted 10:02 pm, June 24, 2016, by Brendan Ponton PORTSMOUTH, Va. – Hampton Roads Regional Jail officials responded to claims of inmates facing threats for speaking up about the death of another inmate. In a court filing Friday, jail officials wrote that there is no evidence four inmates are being threatened or targeted. “While there may be cases of witness intimidation requiring court intervention, this is not such a case,” a document reads. The four inmates wrote letters to the lawyer representing Jamycheal Mitchell’s family. Mitchell died in a cell at the jail last summer. His family is now suing. The inmates are named in the lawsuit as having witnessed alleged mistreatment and abuse of Mitchell. Since then, they say they’re being retaliated against. Mitchell’s family’s lawyer, Mark Krudys, asked a judge to make sure the inmates are kept safe. In response to the lawsuit, a statement from the attorney read: “We deny the allegations made against our facility and staff and believe that the facts will establish that our employees were professional and caring in their interactions with Mr. Mitchell.” http://wtkr.com/2016/06/24/hampton-roads-regional-jail-responds-to-accusations-of-threats-to-inmates/ Judge denies protective orders for witnesses in Jamycheal Mitchell case

Inmate Dies When Noone Would Help

Virginia: Man dies in Hampton Roads Regional Jail 2 days after filing emergency grievance begging for help Inside the Hampton Roads Regional Jail, Henry Clay Stewart knew he was sick. He'd filled out grievance after grievance asking for help, a fellow inmate said. A 60-year-old man incarcerated for violating probation on a shoplifting charge, Stewart was vomiting blood. He was unable to eat much of anything for weeks, said Brent Lashley, who was two cells away from Stewart. "I have blacked out two times in less than 24 hours," Stewart wrote Aug. 4 in imperfect English on an emergency grievance form obtained by his family after his death. "I keep asking to go to the emergency room. ... I can't hold water down or food." Two days later, he was dead. Stewart died 353 days after the death of Jamycheal Mitchell in the same jail. Read more: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/8/28/jamycheal-mitchell-virginia-jail-death.html

Texas Jail Guards Deny Using Excessive Force

Texas Jail Guards Deny Using Excessive Force A Texas prisoner testified Monday that five guards stormed his cell, squeezed his genitals and shoved something into his rectum after he asked why he needed to be strip-searched, since he was already naked. Six prison guards are fighting excessive force and failure to protect claims that Marcos Ortiz, 60, made in an October 2014 federal lawsuit. Ortiz took the stand Monday, the first day of trial, in a long-sleeved white shirt, a black tie and thick glasses, his gray goatee nearly meeting white sideburns. He peered around a computer monitor facing him on the witness stand and told his attorney he's still haunted by the sexual assault he suffered at the Estelle Unit in Hunstville on Jan. 31, 2014. "How often do you think about the incident?" asked his attorney, Laura Smith, with Baker Botts. "Just about every day." Prisoner civil rights cases rarely make it to trial. The 11th Amendment immunizes state prison systems and officials from being sued in their official capacities for money, under Section 1983 of the Civil Rights Act. Three such defendants in Ortiz's case were dismissed: the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Estelle Unit Warden Tracy Bailey and TDCJ Executive Director Brad Livingston. Ortiz sued Pope and fellow guards Michael Lewis, Diveonlea Lott, Michael Kirk, Kenneth Cathey and Kevin Lloyd in their individual capacities, which means he can recover money damages if he prevails. > The officers claim they are protected by qualified immunity, which shields them from all but the most blatant misconduct. Read more: http://www.courthousenews.com/2016/08/30/texas-jail-guards-deny-using-excessive-force.htm