A mother in Alabama filed a wrongful death lawsuit after her son, Tony Mitchell, was left naked and languishing in a concrete cell for days, leading to his death from hypothermia.
The lawsuit accuses jail staff members of looking on and chatting outside his open cell door as he died, and of malicious abuse and deliberate indifference. The complaint was filed on Monday at the US District Court for Northern Alabama.
The suit also alleges that officials did not provide necessary psychiatric help
Mitchell had been charged with attempted murder after firing a gun during a wellness check by deputies at the request of a family member.
The suit alleges that corrections staff leaked surveillance footage of Mitchell’s custody to the family, contradicting what they had been told by officials. The lawsuit accuses jail staff of malicious abuse and deliberate indifference, claiming they ignored Mitchell’s worsening physical condition and mental health issues.
The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is currently investigating Mitchell’s death, while the Walker County Sheriff’s Office has declined to comment on the lawsuit. The incident has raised questions about the treatment of inmates in the state’s correctional facilities, particularly in light of similar cases of alleged neglect and abuse in recent years.