Lashawn Thompson and Joshua McLemore suffered inhumane conditions at the hands of the U.S. prison system, according to reports by Georgia and Indiana jails.
On Thursday, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff, Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Human Rights, announced an inquiry into Georgia’s Fulton County Jail and Indiana’s Jackson County Jail after two reports of brutal conditions of isolation were released. Both men struggled with mental illness and were denied medical attention, according to jail reports.
Lashawn Thompson, a 35-year-old who was homeless at the time of incarceration, was an inmate at Fulton County Jail when he was found dead in the facility’s psychiatric wing. Jail reports say his body was covered in bedbugs and insect bites due to “deplorable” conditions.
Joshua McLemore, a 29-year-old suffering from schizophrenia, was found dead at Jackson County Jail after enduring malnutrition and dehydration while in solitary confinement, according to jail reports. Surveillance footage released as part of a Federal civil rights lawsuit against Jackson County shows that McLemore was left naked in solitary confinement for 20 days. He received no access to a bathroom, a bed, nor medical attention during his confinement.
McLemore’s case shines light on a prior death involving the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. In 2021, Ta’Neasha Chapell died in Jackson County Jail after officials ignored for hours her cries for medical assistance while she vomited blood. Chapell died shortly after being taken to a hospital.
Ossoff’s inquiry into conditions of isolation in the U.S. prison system was sent to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Apr. 19. The inquiry requests information on Georgia and Indiana’s performance reports and other communications to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) by May 8.
