(Washington) Malnourished, dehydrated, and devoured by lice: a schizophrenic inmate died of “gross negligence” in a prison in the southern United States, according to an autopsy report released Monday.
Lashawn Thompson, a 35-year-old African-American homeless man, was taken into custody last June by the sheriff of Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, after spitting on an officer.
On September 13, he was found dead, emaciated, extremely dirty and infested with insects in a cell in the psychiatric wing of the local prison.
An official autopsy had ruled that the causes of death were “undetermined” against the background of “schizophrenic and bipolar disorders”.
Thanks to funds paid by football player Colin Kaepernick, who is very involved in the Black Lives Matter movement to fight racism and police violence, his family had commissioned an independent medical examiner to find out more.
Lashawn Thompson died of “complications due to gross negligence,” Dr. Roger Mitchell concluded in a report released Monday.
According to him, Lashawn Thomson had been prescribed medication to contain his schizophrenia when he arrived in prison, but appears not to have received it for at least 43 days, which precipitated his decline, as he was unable to eat, drink or wash without treatment.
At the time of his death, he weighed 15 kilos less than when he was admitted, he was dehydrated and covered in a layer of filth, notes the doctor.
His body harbored “countless insects”, including in his nose and mouth, as well as “multiple bites on his arms and legs”, adds the doctor, who considers it possible that the high number of lice caused anemia.
He eventually succumbed to cardiac arrhythmia, but this was not a “natural” cause of death. “Lashawn Thompson was neglected until death,” he wrote, calling his death a “homicide.”
At a press conference, his family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, said his cell had become “a torture chamber”. “Someone has to be accountable to their loved ones,” he said.
“Someone should be held responsible for what happened to my nephew,” added Karo Thompson, the deceased’s uncle.
However, no complaint has been filed at this stage.
According to local press, the county sheriff had received the family recently and accepted the resignations of two prison officials. Asked by AFP, he did not immediately react to the publication of the autopsy on Monday.