By Vaiva Utaraite
ATLANTA, GA – The family of LaShawn Thompson, a 35-year-old man who was suffering from mental illness, is calling for a criminal investigation surrounding Thompson’s death as well as major changes to the jail.
Thompson was arrested for misdemeanor simple battery in June. He was in custody at the psychiatric unit of the Fulton County Jail when he was found unresponsive in September 2022.
While his official cause of death is “undetermined,” he “was found in deplorable conditions and had insect bites in his ears, mouth, nose, and all over his body,” said Ben Crump, a nationally renowned civil and personal injury attorney who has joined Michael Harper in the case.
Thompson’s cell was shown to be “covered in dirt and strewn with debris,” indicating that the conditions of it were “not fit for a diseased animal, let alone a human-being,” charged Harper.
Harper noted, in a New York Post article by Olivia Land, that when Thompson was initially found, “one of the detention officers refused to administer CPR because in her words she ‘freaked out.’”
In a statement, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office stated, “Without making any explicit statements about Mr. Thompson’s health, it’s fair to say that this is one of many cases that illustrate the desperate need for expanded and better mental health services.”
After the incident, the office is said to have allocated “an additional $500,000 to address bed bugs, lice and other vermin at the jail, and updated sanitary protocols.”
Regarding the incident, Crump said in a statement that “it is completely unacceptable to force inmates to live in appalling conditions where they are subjected to insects, grime, and infections. No one should be treated that way. LaShawn and his family deserve full justice for this inhumane treatment.”
