Jail workers knew Lashawn Thompson's cell was filled with filth, data present, however nobody saved him earlier than his household says he was 'eaten alive' by bugs

• Staffers at a Georgia jail knew a detainee was residing in filth earlier than he died, data present.
• Lashawn Thompson was discovered useless on the Fulton County Jail in September 2022. 
• Information present staffers sounded the alarm about his cell circumstances and well being earlier than he died.

Staffers at a infamous Georgia jail knew one of many facility’s detainees was residing in filth in his cell, however nobody saved the person earlier than his household alleges he was “eaten alive” by bugs and mattress bugs, data obtained by Insider present. 

Lashawn Thompson, 35, was found useless inside a cell on the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 13, 2022 — three months after he was arrested on a cost of misdemeanor easy battery. 

Graphic pictures launched final month by an legal professional for Thompson’s household confirmed the horrific circumstances of Thompson’s cell and the younger man’s physique coated in bugs and obvious bites. 

In line with jail paperwork obtained by Insider by means of a public-records request, at the least two jail staffers sounded the alarm to different officers about Thompson’s cell circumstances and issues about his well being within the days earlier than his dying. 

Michael Harper, an legal professional for Thompson’s household, informed Insider final month that jail workers knew Thompson was “deteriorating” however did nothing to assist him.

Thompson was discovered unresponsive, “slumped over” on the ground of his cell together with his head in the bathroom and “coated in feces and lice” when Detention Officer Jeana Andrews went to maneuver Thompson to the medical statement unit within the early morning hours of September 13, the data present. 

In an incident report, Andrews acknowledged that she had “communicated with psychological well being workers” and a sergeant about Thompson’s “residing circumstances” on “earlier dates.” The officer reported that the final date she “voiced concern” was September 8 — 5 days earlier than Thompson’s dying.

One other officer wrote in a September 13 supervisor investigation report that Detention Officer Jonathan Dente knowledgeable him that he tried to have Thompson re-located to the medical statement unit “earlier within the week on account of his concern for his well being.”

Dente informed the supervisor that Thompson “had not appeared effectively for the previous few days,” in line with the paperwork. 

In an incident report, Dente stated that it was selected September 12 that Thompson can be moved to the medical statement unit “on account of his sudden decline in well being.” 

“I talked to the psych nurse that his scenario wants some consideration,” Dente reported, in line with the data. 

Regardless of these issues Thompson — who Harper stated had been positioned within the jail’s psychiatric wing after officers decided he had a psychological sickness — died in his cell. 

A report from the Fulton County medical expert described a “extreme mattress bug infestation” in Thompson’s cell. The medical expert dominated Thompson’s trigger and method of dying as “undetermined.”

When requested for remark in regards to the newly-obtained data, a spokesperson for the Fulton County Sheriff’s Workplace, which runs the jail, referred Insider to an April 17 press launch outlining “resignations that have been requested and submitted from those that have been immediately accountable for jail operations on the time of Mr. Thompson’s dying.”

“Due to the pending litigation and the open investigation, which might end in extra reprimands and/or terminations, we’re not in a position to supply extra remark at the moment,” the spokesperson added. 

Thompson was amongst 15 detainee deaths on the jail final yr

Thompson was considered one of a staggering 15 detainees on the Fulton County Jail who died in 2022, in line with information obtained by Insider by means of a public-records request. 

That determine is up from two deaths on the jail in 2020 and three deaths in 2021, the info exhibits. As of Might 8, there have been three detainee deaths thus far in 2023, in line with the info. 

The Fulton County Sheriff’s Workplace’s spokesperson informed Insider that “plenty of elements contributed to inmate deaths in 2022.”

These elements included an “exacerbation of harmful overcrowding which led to an escalation of violent assaults between inmates, outbreaks of communicable ailments … the crumbling infrastructure of the dilapidated Rice Road facility which has resulted in a dramatic enhance in makeshift weapons and shanks, the poor well being circumstances of inmates upon consumption and pure causes,” the spokesperson stated. 

Atlanta, Georgia, prison protection legal professional Sarah Flack, who has represented a number of purchasers who’ve been locked up on the Fulton County Jail, known as the determine of 15 deaths “astronomical.” 

“It is rather broadly identified for those who follow within the state of Georgia that the worst jail to be in on this state is the Fulton County Jail,” Flack informed Insider, including that she’s had purchasers within the facility who’re “begging” to be despatched to jail as a substitute. 

“It is that dangerous,” stated the lawyer. 

Earlier this month, Flack stated she visited a shopper being detained on the jail. 

“These males are in there with no scorching water, no working water. They’re sleeping on the ground,” stated Flack. “Bugs are nonetheless a difficulty. The drug use in there may be rampant.”