A Connecticut inmate was stripped naked, tied up and had his face covered with an irritant-soaked bag as corrections officers beat him for his last breath.
J’Allen Jones, 32, died in 2018 in the psychiatric unit of Garner Correctional Institution in Newton while suffering a nervous breakdown, according to court documents shared with DailyMail.com.
Jones’ girlfriend, Lynnette Richardson, and mother, Jessica Jones, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Department of Correction later that year, claiming their staff is responsible for their loved one’s death.
These gruesome images should be released publicly, according to attorney Ron Murphy, who is trying to shed light on the situation as state attorneys try to get the case dismissed.
“The events in the video are as disturbing as the events in the video of the death of George Floyd,” Murphy wrote in a motion Friday.
Corrections officers wheeled J’Allen Jones out of his cell after beating him
Jones was stripped naked and then pepper-sprayed and held until he was unconscious
Jones was diagnosed with schizophrenia and his cause of death was related to an underlying heart condition
In his plea to have this video released, he said that at the time the video – also referred to as ‘Exhibit A’ – was filed in court, it should have been accessible to the public.
Murphy and Paul Spinella are the two attorneys calling for the protective order sealing the video to be lifted.
The movement described the graphic abuse, stating that Jones was repeatedly punched, thrown to the ground and pepper-sprayed in his vulnerable and restricted state. Jones was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Murphy said the staff seen in the video “used excessive force, rendering J’Allen unconscious, and then were deliberately indifferent to J’Allen’s obvious and serious medical needs.”
Corrections officers were recorded tying and restraining Jones
Corrections officers entered Jones’ cell for an unsolicited search, court documents show
He claimed that the staff’s actions caused Jones’ untimely death.
“There is no evidence to show that (staff) actually knew that Mr. Jones was suffering from a medical condition,” Assistant Attorney General Janelle Medeiros told the judge on Friday, as reported by Newstimes.
Murphy outlined the video, explaining that the video shows three officers approaching Jones for no specific reason. Other officers joined in and ordered the prisoner to be searched.
Jones said he was too tired to be searched and started “chanting nonsensical words,” which officers interpreted as noncompliance — and that’s when the violence began.
Eight correctional officers and one nurse are named in a lawsuit filed by Jones’ mother and girlfriend
Corrections officers forced Jones onto his bed
The Department of Correction incident report documents that Jones was given two injections by a nurse to calm him down because he was “resisting.”
The document also alleges that Jones tried to grab, bite and spit on officers.
The attorney said Jones never tried to hit back at the officers during the video. In the video you can hear coughing and wheezing for air.
Four large officers used their knees and palms to restrain Jones for more than eight minutes until his last “visible voluntary movement,” Murphy said.
They took Jones out of his cell in a wheelchair to take him to another one. Officers called for him to be medically examined, but he became unresponsive.
Outside Garner Correctional Institution where the recorded incident occurred
Nurses didn’t perform CPR or call an ambulance until seven minutes after we fell unconscious.
A Department of Correction investigation found that staff waited too long to perform life-saving measures on Jones. CTpost reported.
Jones was pronounced dead after being taken to hospital. His death was ruled a homicide by a medical examiner, according to court documents.
He served a ten-year prison sentence for, among other things, premeditated theft. according to The Newtown Bee.
His cause of death was reported as “sudden death during strangulation and restraint with chest compression and pepper spray exposure in an individual with hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.”
Jones was held in the correctional facility’s psychiatric unit
Jones’ mother and Richardson filed the lawsuit against the eight corrections officers and the nurse involved in the recorded incident. The trial is scheduled for February 2025.
Murphy pointed out that eight of the nine defendants are white.
In another attempt to bring full closure to this lawsuit, Medeiros added that although Jones died in Newtown, he was a resident of Bristol.
She claimed the Newtown court “lacked jurisdiction” to make Richardson lead plaintiff in the case.