An Alabama inmate who froze to death in prison, most likely placed in a freezer as punishment, is following a federal lawsuit, Fox News reported on February 15.
Walker County Jail officials allegedly placed 33-year-old Anthony “Tony” Mitchell “in a restraint chair in the prison kitchen freezer or similar walk-in cooler and left him there for several hours.” “says the lawsuit.
Mitchell died on January 26. The lawsuit explains that prison staff mock-freeze the inmate, and then, noticing that the person was dying, took him to the hospital, instead of calling an ambulance.
According to the lawsuit, Mitchell’s body temperature was apparently 22 degrees when prison officials loaded him into the sheriff’s car and took him to the hospital.
The doctor who examined Mitchell wrote the following: “I am not sure under what circumstances the patient was imprisoned, but it is difficult to understand a rectal temperature of 22 degrees Celsius when someone is in prison. The reason for his hypothermia is unclear. It is possible that he had an underlying condition that led to hypothermia. I don’t know if he could have been exposed to the cold. I believe hypothermia was the ultimate cause of death for him.”.
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The Walker County Medical Examiner’s Office has yet to release Mitchell’s autopsy report, but “It is clear that Tony’s death was unjust, the result of horrendous, malicious violence and willful indifference” he said in a lawsuit filed by the deceased’s mother.
Mitchell’s mother, Margaret Mitchell, filed a lawsuit against Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith, 10 corrections officers, two nurses and a medical examiner.
The complaint also cites a corrections officer who showed “heroism” by “daring to save surveillance footage on his phone and deliver it” to relatives of the deceased.
The Walker County Sheriff’s Office initially arrested Mitchell on Jan. 12, when they received a phone call from one of his “concerned” family members saying Mitchell had made statements suggesting he might “harm himself or others,” it said. the sheriff’s office in a statement.
“Mitchell immediately brandished his weapon and fired at least one shot at the officers before retreating into the wooded area behind his home.”the sheriff’s office said at the time.
A SWAT team finishing their drill arrived at the 33-year-old’s home and found Mitchell on a metal structure in the woods behind his home before apprehending him.
According to the lawsuit, Mitchell had a “chronic drug addiction.” She lived alone after her father’s death in 2022 and her mother paid her bills and brought her food. The 33-year-old man’s cousin, who was the last person to contact him before his arrest, said Mitchell was delirious and had lost about 90 pounds.
The lawsuit alleges that Walker County authorities violated Mitchell’s civil rights and ended up taking his life. “teaching, retraining, instructing, supervising, and punishing inappropriately” Prison guards.
Source: Rossa Primavera
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