Malnourished, dehydrated, and devoured by lice: a schizophrenic inmate died due to "serious negligence" in a prison in the south of the United States, according to an autopsy report released Monday, May 22. 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 13 September, he was found dead, emaciated, extremely dirty and his body 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 a background of "schizophrenic and bipolar disorders".
Thanks to funds paid for by football player Colin Kaepernick, who is heavily involved in the Black Lives Matter movement to fight racism and police violence, his family had commissioned an independent forensic pathologist 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 because he was unable to eat, drink or bathe without treatment. At the time of his death, he weighed 15 kilos less than when he was admitted, he was dehydrated and covered with a layer of grime, notes the doctor.
"Lashawn Thompson was neglected to death"
His body was home to "countless insects", including in the nose and mouth, as well as "multiple bites on the arms and legs," adds the doctor, who considers it possible that the high number of lice caused anemia. He eventually succumbed to a cardiac arrhythmia, but it was not a "natural" cause of death. "Lashawn Thompson was neglected to 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 accountable for what happened to my nephew," added Karo Thompson, the uncle of the deceased.
However, no complaint has been filed at this stage. According to local media reports, the county sheriff had recently received the family and accepted the resignations of two jail officials. Asked by AFP, he did not immediately react Monday to the publication of the autopsy.