Global Courant 2023-05-05 01:49:27
Lashawn Thompson. (Photos courtesy of attorney Michael Harper (2))
Lashawn Thompson, 35, died on Sept. 13, 2022, at Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail, where he was found in a cell “eaten alive” by bed bugs and insects, according to his family.
Thompson, who suffered from schizophrenia, was held in the prison’s psychiatric ward. According to the police report, he was arrested on June 12, 2022 for misdemeanor simple battery.
“A criminal investigation is currently underway by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. There is a federal civil rights investigation underway with the Justice Department,” Michael Harper, attorney for the Thompson family, told Yahoo News.
The Thompson family received Thompson’s body last year, but they couldn’t get answers from law enforcement as to why it was covered in gruesome scars and sores, some of which appeared to be caused by an insect infestation.
“They were just told he became unresponsive in his cell,” said Harper, adding, “Not only have they lost their loved one, but they have to live with these images of his body and how he died and how he was found .” .”
‘Infested with bed bugs and lice’
Lashawn Thompson’s cell at the Fulton County Jail. (Photo courtesy of attorney Michael Harper)
Photos of Thompson’s body and his cell in prison have sparked outrage and received international attention. “He was found on the prison floor full of bed bugs and lice. He was neglected. He lost a lot of weight. He was dehydrated. It was just a horrible, horrible negligent death,” Harper explained.
Gerald Griggs, an Atlanta attorney and president of the NAACP’s Georgia State Conference, says Thompson’s photos shocked the world. “The cell looked like something out of a horror movie,” he told Yahoo News.
Thompson died four months after being admitted to the Atlanta facility, one of the nation’s largest prisons that holds remand inmates.
“No one in that prison has been convicted of anything, so they should be treated as citizens who have only been charged with something,” Griggs said.
The prison is overcrowded, and 30% of detainees being held because they cannot pay a bond of $15,000 or less. Thompson’s bail was set at $2,500.
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“When (Thompson) died, the prison (Fulton County) commissioned an assessment, which found that more than 90% of the people in the mental health pod showed symptoms of severe malnutrition,” Moki Macias, executive director of the Policing Alternatives and Diversion Initiative, told Yahoo News.
‘Absolutely unscrupulous’
Lashawn Thompson’s cell at the Fulton County Jail. (Photo courtesy of attorney Michael Harper)
Last month, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office announced that more than 600 prisoners would be transferred to prisons in other provinces to help alleviate the problem of overcrowding. Elected in 2020, Sheriff Pat Labat told the Atlanta Journal Constitution that “prison represents an old way of thinking.”
Labat has been outspoken about Thompson’s death. “We understand, and I’ve said this publicly, this is absolutely unconscionable, downright.” he said in April press conference held with Thompson’s family.
Three prison supervisors have since resigned, but lawyers and local leaders say that’s not enough.
“It’s great that this sheriff is apologizing. That is amazing. It is good that the deputies are proactive about the future. But they all knew about these conditions or definitely should have known about them before Lashawn Thompson died,” Harper said. “There must be justice and accountability for what happened to him. Whoever was negligent in this case must be held accountable, both civil and criminal.”
Senator Jon Ossoff at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in March. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)
Senator Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., also demanded action and launched a survey last month with the aim of increasing surveillance of prisons across the country.
“The Justice Department has an affirmative obligation to protect the civil rights of detainees, whether they are held in federal, state or local custody,” Ossoff said. wrote in a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland. “In addition, the federal government provides hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to state and local prisons and jails through a range of grant programs, including through the DOJ Bureau of Justice Assistance, and thus has a responsibility to monitor the use of those funds. ”
Fix a broken prison
Sheriff Patrick Labat has acknowledged the appalling conditions at the Fulton County Jail. (Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Disney)
Since Thompson’s death, the sheriff’s office received an additional $5.3 million to upgrade the prison. But activists are also demanding more accountability.
“Our police seem to be getting more and more money for bad behavior. Where do the funds go? Why isn’t it being improved?” Britt Jones, executive director of Justice for Georgia, told Yahoo News.
The Fulton County Board of Commissioners also approved an additional $869,893 for the continuation of a feasibility study, begun in 2021, recommending the establishment of a new prison in Fulton County.
“The solution is not more prisons and more incarceration; it’s smarter, more sensible justice policies that will reduce the prison population,” Sakira Cook, a vice president at Color of Change, a racial justice organization, said in a statement.
Between 2009 and October 2022, 64 inmates died at Fulton County Jail, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. In March, Labat gave newspaper reporters a tour of the facility and more than acknowledged that 50% of the prisoners there were people with mental illnesses that the institution could not handle.
Lashawn Thompson. (Photo courtesy of attorney Michael Harper)
Macias says the system is failing rural communities. “It’s really just moving some of our most vulnerable people into some of our most dangerous public facilities, which is local jails,” she said. “There is no reason that someone who has been arrested for nuisance should be in that prison for months without proper care, and without all the agencies involved doing their best to actually get that person out of an overcrowded prison.”
Burns was one of hundreds of people who gathered to protest the inhumane prison conditions. Thompson’s autopsy photos, she said, were the worst she’s ever seen.
“I’ve had to go through a lot of the autopsy findings I’m talking about, for the most horrific of them all,” she added.
The coroner’s report lists Thompson’s cause of death as “undetermined”.
“Indefinite — it’s not a satisfactory answer when the medical examiner whose job it is to determine the cause of death,” Harper said.
Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick is funding an independent autopsy for Lashawn Thompson. (Phil McCarten/ABC via Getty Images)
With Thompson’s death making national headlines, former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick has stepped in and paid for an independent autopsy, according to civil rights attorney Ben Crump.
“We are waiting for those results. The doctor is working on it now. We expect it to be ready in a few weeks,” Harper said.
Meanwhile, advocates say, “More people will die if changes aren’t made at the Fulton County Jail,” Macias said.
