Georgia County to Pay $4M to Household of Inmate Who Died Coated in Bedbugs in Psychological Well being Wing

The Georgia county that features a lot of Atlanta pays out a $4 million settlement to the household of a person who died final yr within the county’s jail lined in mattress bugs.

Lashawn Thompson, 35, was arrested in June 2022 after police at Georgia Tech College discovered him sleeping in an area park. Officers decided Thompson had a warrant in Alabama for a automobile theft cost. He was additionally charged with allegedly spitting on one of many officers who arrested him.

Thompson was held within the Fulton County Jail’s psychiatric ward for roughly three months earlier than he died of “extreme neglect,” having misplaced 32 kilos over that interval and being denied his schizophrenia remedy, in response to an impartial post-mortem paid for by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick, the Atlanta Journal-Structure reported.

Thompson was unable to look after himself whereas in jail, in response to the Journal-Structure, and employees on the jail allegedly didn’t intervene in his loss of life even after they observed his deterioration.

Fulton County commissioners accepted the settlement Monday by a 6-0 vote. Whereas the county didn’t disclose particulars of the settlement, it’s believed to incorporate up to date insurance policies and requirements to forestall future deaths like Thompson’s, in response to the Journal-Structure.

NaphCase, the well being care supplier on the Fulton County Jail, can be believed to have agreed to an analogous settlement with Thompson’s household that features new preventative procedures.

The U.S. Division of Justice introduced final month that it opened an investigation into situations on the jail. Greater than 60 inmates have died within the Fulton County Jail between 2009 and October 2022.

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