Jamycheal Mitchell
Jamycheal Mitchell, 24, was known in his family as someone who made people laugh and loved music, and he lived with his mother Sonia; he had schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He was held at the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth, Virginia, for months while a court order to transfer him to a state mental hospital was not carried out. He died in his cell on August 19, 2015, and the Chief Medical Examiner's office listed a heart condition accompanying a wasting syndrome of unknown cause. His family's lawsuit alleges that staff withheld food, water and medication and ignored repeated requests for help while he lost more than 40 pounds, claims the jail and its health provider deny. A state review found the transfer order had been lost in a file, and the family's lawsuit, which later settled without any admission of wrongdoing, remains the family's account of his death.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (disputed; neglect alleged). The medical examiner ruled a heart arrhythmia linked to wasting syndrome of unknown cause, and the jail's master jail officer called the death natural, but his family's lawsuit says staff withheld food, water and medication, ignored his pleas for help, and beat him.
Reported by: Hampton Roads Regional Jail (the agency that held him); Natasha Perry, master jail officer at Hampton Roads Regional Jail (the agency that held him); Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (medical examiner or coroner); his family's lawsuit (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: His family sued over his death, seeking $60 million, and later reached a settlement with undisclosed terms and no admission of wrongdoing.
News reports (14)
- Virginia man dies in jail after arrest for stealing snacks
- Young black man jailed since April for alleged $5 theft found dead in cell
- Our Criminal Justice System Failed Jamycheal Mitchell
- Why Can’t Virginia Explain How Jamycheal Mitchell Starved to Death in the State’s Care?
- Jail let mentally disabled man starve, lawsuit says
- Mentally Ill Man Allowed to Waste Away in Jail, $60M Suit Says - ABC News
- Virginia jail finds footage it thought it lost after inmate's death in cell
- 1 year after mentally ill man’s jail death, questions remain
- US investigating jail where black man died after being held for months over $5
- Va. GOP moves to fire watchdog over inmate death case
- Virginia State Police to investigate new allegations in Jamycheal Mitchell’s death
- Horrific deaths, brutal treatment: Mental illness in America’s jails
- Here’s who pays, and how much in settlement of Jamycheal Mitchell’s death
- While mired in investigations and death, Hampton Roads Regional Jail’s board fought against change - The Virginian-Pilot