Starved To Death In Jail
(12-20-18) The U.S. Department of Justice has said there is reasonable evidence to conclude that officials at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Virginia are violating the constitutional rights of prisoners with mental illnesses. The report refers to “deliberate indifference to prisoners’ constitutional rights to adequate medical care” and a “deliberate indifference to prisoner health and safety.”
In a 43-page investigative report released late last night, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia disclosed information about deaths at the jail not previously widely known.
Perhaps the saddest findings are frequent references to the “indifference” jail officials and medical workers showed toward mentally ill prisoners. It noted the jail “does not take prisoner grievances about lack of access to medical care seriously, resulting in significant harm to prisoners, even death.”
The federal government launched its investigation of the Portsmouth regional jail at the request of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Mental Health America, the NAACP, the ACLU, and the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law after widespread publicity swirling around the death of Jamycheal Mitchell and Virginia state officials’ bungling of state investigations.
Mitchell, a 24 year-old African American with a diagnosed mental illness, was found dead in his cell four months after he was arrested for allegedly stealing $5.05 in candy and a soda from a convenience store. Mitchell died from a heart attack that a Virginia medical examiner said was caused by “wasting away” syndrome (starvation.) He had lost 40 pounds during the 100 days he was jailed in solitary confinement awaiting transfer to a state mental hospital. In a civil suit filed by his family, attorneys claimed correctional officers denied Mitchell food as punishment, kicked, beat, and pepper sprayed him.
The Justice Department noted that jail officials failed to improve medical services even after Mitchell’s highly publicized death. A second inmate died a year later after his repeated pleas for medical help were ignored.
Although the Justice Department concluded there is reasonable evidence to suggest the jail was and continues to violate prisoners’ 8th and 14th Constitutional rights and the Americans with Disability Act, no official was cited for discipline and no criminal charges apparently will be filed against any individuals.
The Hampton Road Jail holds more prisoners with mental illnesses in Virginia than most jails. The report cited 25% as compared to 9.55 percent in other jails. It also had the second highest number of military veterans, of which, 47% had a mental illness.
The report disclosed other deaths inside the jail that had not been publicized, including these examples:
