Jailer to plead guilty after mentally ill man, 33, froze to death in police custody when he was left naked and covered in faeces in a concrete cell for two weeks
A former prison guard will plead guilty to charges over the death of a mentally ill man who froze to death in police cells after being left naked and covered in feces for two weeks.
Joshua Conner Jones, a former prison guard at Alabama’s Walker County Jail, has reached a settlement over the treatment of two inmates, including Tony Mitchell, according to court documents.
Mitchell, 33, died on Jan. 26, 2023, after being taken from his cell to a hospital emergency room with a body temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a lawsuit his mother filed against the prison in February.
The settlement agreement stated that Mitchell was “nearly always naked, wet, cold and covered in feces while lying on the cement floor without a mat or blanket.”
By the second week of his confinement, he was “largely listless and barely responsive to officers’ questions,” but no measures were taken to alleviate his suffering.
Tony Mitchell died on January 26 while being held in the Walker County Jail in Alabama. A former jailer, Joshua Conner Jones, will plead guilty to a criminal charge in connection with his death
Mitchell was initially arrested on January 13, 2023 after his family members called police and reported his erratic behavior
Mitchell’s family alleges he was held naked and locked in a concrete cell at the Walker County Jail for two weeks after his arrest.
Jones has now pleaded guilty to one charge of depriving a prisoner of his rights, while also pleading guilty to another charge of deprivation of rights relating to the attack on another prisoner.
The settlement agreement stated that five individuals were involved in the abuse of rights that led to Mitchell’s death.
Prosecutors wrote in the plea agreement that the former guard admitted that “we did it collectively. We killed him.”
Mitchell was arrested on January 13, 2023, after his family members called police and reported his erratic behavior.
When officers arrived, they found Mitchell in the front yard. They said he immediately pulled out a gun and shot them at least once.
The man ran into the nearby woods and hid in a shed when they tracked him down.
Prosecutors wrote in the plea agreement that when Mitchell’s deteriorating condition was brought up, the accomplices would respond that “he’s going to get what he’s getting, since he shot at officers” or words to that effect.
Mitchell was subsequently booked into the Walker County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder.
On the day he was arrested, Mitchell was brought before a judge and was declared “unable to sign documents,” according to court documents.
Earlier this year, a family member said they were confident prison would be a safe place for the man.
“We knew he was in prison, and we thought that was the safest place for him at that time,” a family member said. “But it turned out to be the worst place for him.”
The distraught family filed a lawsuit against the prison in February.
This is a clip from a video inside the Walker County Jail showing a naked inmate, reportedly Mitchell
The video shows Mitchell being dragged and lifted into a patrol car before being taken to hospital, where he is later pronounced dead.
The man’s body appeared limp in a video released by a local media outlet
Mitchell was booked into the Walker County Jail on January 13, 2023, on attempted murder charges
“This is one of the most horrific cases of prison abuse the country has ever seen,” the family’s 37-page federal lawsuit reads.
Shocking video footage shows Mitchell being carried out of jail on January 26. The man is then dragged into a patrol car and later pronounced dead.
The video allegedly contradicts the sheriff’s original statement that Mitchell had a medical issue but was “alert and alert” when he was taken to the hospital.
According to the family’s complaint, hospital staff at Walker Baptist Medical Center attempted to revive him for three hours before he was pronounced dead.
According to the doctor’s statements, it was believed that Mitchell died of hypothermia.
“I am not certain under what conditions the patient was incarcerated, but it is difficult to understand a rectal temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit while someone is incarcerated,” the lawsuit said.
“The cause of his hypothermia is unclear. I do not know if he was exposed to a cold environment. I do believe that hypothermia was the ultimate cause of death,” it continued.
Mitchell’s family alleged in their lawsuit that he was stripped naked and placed in a concrete isolation cell for the time he was there.
They also claimed that there was a five-hour gap between the time Mitchell was removed from the “cold environment” and the time he was taken to hospital.
“The cell was missing a bed or other furniture,” the complaint said.
Pictured: Walker County Jail and Walker County Sheriff’s Office where Mitchell ‘froze to death’
“There was only a drain in the floor that could be used as a toilet. The cell was made of bare cement, the equivalent of a dog kennel. But unlike a dog, Tony wasn’t even given a mat to sleep on.”
In a statement following his death, the Walker County Sheriff’s Office released a detailed statement about Mitchell’s death while in police custody.
“On Thursday, January 27, an inmate at the Walker County Jail was subjected to a routine medical examination by jail medical staff,” the statement began.
Medical staff determined that the prisoner should be taken to hospital for further evaluation.
“The inmate was alert and conscious when he left the facility and arrived at the hospital. Shortly after arriving at the hospital, the inmate suffered a medical emergency and lost consciousness.
“Life-saving efforts were made by hospital staff and the inmate was eventually resuscitated. Unfortunately, the inmate passed away a short time later,” the statement concluded.
After Jones’ plea agreement, Jon C. Goldfarb, an attorney representing the family in the civil lawsuit, said “the family is shocked to see in writing what they knew happened to Tony Mitchell.”