Current Events > Man with schizophrenia was left naked in jail cell for weeks before death

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/12/indiana-jail-schizophrenia-solitary-cell-joshua-mclemore-video

New surveillance video from inside an Indiana jail shows how a 29-year-old man who died in the summer of 2021 from dehydration and malnutrition was left naked in solitary confinement for three weeks with no medical attention.

The footage was released on Wednesday by the family of Joshua McLemore as part of a federal civil rights lawsuit against Jackson county, Indiana. The suit accuses the local sheriff, jail commander and medical staff of causing McLemores death through deliberate indifference, neglect and unconstitutional jail conditions while he was in a state of psychosis.

Disturbing videos, some of which were reviewed by the Guardian, show McLemore as he was left in a small, windowless cell for 20 days straight in Jackson county jail in July and August of 2021. The cell had no bed or bathroom and had fluorescent lights on at all hours.

In the footage, McLemore, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, appears detached from reality, speaking gibberish, rolling in filth and his own waste and becoming clearly emaciated. He received daily meals through a small slot in his jail door, but appears to have rarely eaten them. He had extended human interactions on only four occasions when guards used intense force and restraint devices to drag him out to clean the cell or give him a shower.

McLemore ultimately lost 45lbs during his stay, but never saw a doctor or mental health professional, the suit says.

The videos renew scrutiny of the Jackson county sheriffs department, which faced outrage over the 2021 jail death of TaNeasha Chappell. Footage showed guards ignoring Chappells cries for medical attention for hours on end, including reports she was vomiting blood. Chappell died shortly after she was taken to the hospital. Prosecutors declined to file charges in her death.

McLemore, who grew up in Mississippi, long struggled with mental illness and drug use and had repeatedly received in-patient psychiatric treatment, the suit filed by his family says. He was living in Seymour, Indiana, on 20 July 2021 when his mother, concerned he wasnt responding to her calls, had his apartment manager check on him. McLemore was found naked on his floor and incoherent, leading building staff to call an ambulance.

At the hospital, McLemore was disoriented and in a state of psychosis, and acknowledged hed used meth, according to the complaint. When a nurse found him on the floor and tapped him, he pulled her hair, leading a guard to order him to his bed. He complied without incident. The guard called Seymour police, which sent four officers to arrest McLemore, placing him in shackles and carrying him out of the hospital in his underwear.

At the jail, staff skipped the booking process, conducted no medical evaluation and placed him directly in Padded Cell 7, which was empty with nothing to sit on and no way to know whether it was day or night, the McLemore familys lawyers say. Officers struggled to put him in a smock and gave up trying to clothe him. Eventually they removed his underwear, leaving him with only a thin blanket and the smock on the floor nearby, according to the complaint. McLemore appeared severely disoriented, asking himself, Where am I?, video shows.

McLemores cell was connected to a bathroom, but jailers kept it locked and it was unclear if McLemore was aware it was there as he relieved himself in the cell. Footage shows him smearing feces, eating styrofoam, spilling food, staring into cameras, licking walls and spontaneously laughing.

I have no words

Wait the guards actively dragged him forcefully out of the cell to clean the shit and piss multiple times

And never once gave him clothes or addresed the conditions!?

What the fuck!?

Stating what should happen to the people responsible would not only get me modded but also on a watch list, so I'll just say there's nothing too cruel for people that let this shit happen

When a nurse found him on the floor and tapped him, he pulled her hair, leading a guard to order him to his bed. He complied without incident. The guard called Seymour police, which sent four officers to arrest McLemore, placing him in shackles and carrying him out of the hospital in his underwear.

wtf? just for a hair pull during a state of psychosis?

I'd be suing that hospital too, sounds like they just didn't want to deal with him

I work in a nursing home and if someone treated a patient like this the whole place would get shut down

If they had had a doctor check them and they refused meds that would be one thing, but this is just sickening negligence imo.

Step 1: dig a hole 1 foot shorter than the prison guards.

Step 5: mix wet concrete

I had to skip a few steps for reasons, but it involves a feeding tube, a colostomy tube, and the hole that was dug.

They definitely never should have removed him from the hospital in the first place. Partially an infrastructure issue, partially a "the people involved were dumbass fuckwads" issue.

Horrific. I wonder if people become cops because it legalizes murder or if people let power go to their heads once they find out that human life means nothing if you're wearing a badge.

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FortuneCookie posted...

Horrific. I wonder if people become cops because it legalizes murder or if people let power go to their heads once they find out that human life means nothing if you're wearing a badge.

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Here, people become corrections officers if they cant become cops.