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ATLANTA (AP) — A person who died in a bedbug-infested cell in a Georgia jail’s psychiatric wing “died as a result of extreme neglect,” based on an unbiased post-mortem launched Monday by legal professionals for his household.
Lashawn Thompson, 35, died in September, three months after he was booked into the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta.
Public outrage over his demise unfold final month after a lawyer for his household, Michael Harper, launched photographs of Thompson’s face and physique lined in bugs.
“Mr. Thompson was uncared for to demise,” says the post-mortem report written by Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr., a former chief medical expert in Washington, D.C., who’s now a professor and chair of the pathology division at Howard College School of Medication.
The unbiased post-mortem report lists the reason for demise as “Problems as a result of Extreme Neglect,” with “Untreated Decompensated Schizophrenia” recognized as a contributing trigger.
A mixture of dehydration, fast weight reduction and malnutrition, sophisticated by untreated decompensated schizophrenia led to a deadly cardiac arrythmia, the report says.
As a result of he didn’t obtain vital medical care or enough meals, water and shelter, his method of demise is murder, Mitchell wrote.
An earlier report from the Fulton County medical expert’s workplace discovered no apparent indicators of trauma on Thompson’s physique however famous a “extreme mattress bug infestation.” It lists his reason behind demise as “undetermined.”
The brand new post-mortem “confirms that this is among the most deplorable in-custody deaths within the historical past of America,” mentioned outstanding civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who represents the household.
The household’s legal professionals and advocates gave credit score to Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat, who has publicly known as Thompson’s demise “completely unconscionable.” Labat, who took workplace in 2021 and has lengthy advocated for a brand new jail, has mentioned Thompson’s demise reveals that the present jail can not present “protected and humane detention.”
He mentioned in an announcement Monday that he hadn’t had an opportunity to totally evaluation the unbiased post-mortem report however that even earlier than it was issued, “it was painfully clear there have been plenty of failures that led to Mr. Thompson’s tragic demise.”
He mentioned he had already held government employees accountable by asking for and receiving the resignations of three high staffers. And he mentioned there could possibly be repercussions for anybody discovered to be negligent as soon as the total investigation is turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
“I stay dedicated to creating certain the Thompson household receives the solutions they want and deserve concerning the unconscionable circumstances surrounding Mr. Thompson’s demise,” Labat mentioned.
The household’s legal professionals and advocates additionally known as on the Fulton County Board of Commissioners to take duty and act shortly to repair the issues on the jail and urged the district lawyer’s workplace to deliver prison costs in Thompson’s demise. In addition they known as on Gov. Brian Kemp to deal with a “psychological well being disaster” within the state.
Thompson had misplaced 32 kilos, or about 18% of his physique weight, throughout his three months on the Fulton County Jail and confirmed proof of dehydration, the report says. Along with an “innumerable variety of bugs” throughout his physique, his fingers, toes, fingernails and toenails had been filthy, it says.
Medical data from the jail point out that Thompson acquired his final dose of the medicines he’d been prescribed for his psychological well being points 32 days earlier than his demise, the report says.
“Mr. Thompson was utterly reliant on his caregivers to offer each day-to-day care in addition to the acute life-saving care that was wanted to save lots of him from the untreated decompensated schizophrenia,” the report says.
The unbiased post-mortem was paid for by the Post-mortem Initiative of the Know Your Rights Camp, an initiative began by former NFL star and activist Colin Kaepernick.
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