Ben Krump, a civil rights attorney, speaks during a press conference addressing the results of an independent autopsy determining the cause of death of Lashawn Thompson on Monday, May 22, 2023, in the Capital of State in Atlanta.
Christina Matacotta /AP
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Christina Matacotta /AP
Ben Krump, a civil rights attorney, speaks during a press conference addressing the results of an independent autopsy determining the cause of death of Lashawn Thompson on Monday, May 22, 2023, in the Capital of State in Atlanta.
Christina Matacotta /AP
ATLANTA — A man who died in a bug-infested cell in the psychiatric wing of a Georgia prison “died of gross neglect,” according to an independent autopsy released Monday by his family’s attorneys.
Lashawn Thompson, 35, died in September, three months after being booked into the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta. Public outrage over his death spread last month after a lawyer for his family, Michael Harper, released photographs of Thompson’s face and body covered in insects.
“Mr. Thompson was neglected until death,” says the autopsy report written by Dr. Roger A. Mitchell Jr., a former chief medical examiner in Washington, DC, who is now a professor and chairman of the department of -pathology at Howard University College of Medicine.
The independent autopsy report lists the cause of death as “Complications due to Severe Neglect”, with “Untreated Decompensated Schizophrenia” identified as a contributing cause.
A combination of dehydration, rapid weight loss and malnutrition, complicated by untreated decompensated schizophrenia led to a fatal cardiac arrhythmia, the report says. Because he did not receive necessary medical care or adequate food, water and shelter, his manner of death is homicide, Mitchell wrote.
An earlier report from the Fulton County medical examiner’s office found no obvious signs of trauma on Thompson’s body but noted a “severe bed bug infestation.” It lists his cause of death as “undetermined.”
The new autopsy “confirms that this is one of the most deplorable deaths in custody in American history,” said prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents the family.
The family’s lawyers and attorneys credited Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat, who publicly called Thompson’s death “absolutely senseless.” Labat, who took office in 2021 and has been recommending a new prison, said that Thompson’s death shows that the current prison cannot provide “safe and humane detention”.
In a statement on Monday he said that he had not had a chance to fully review the independent autopsy report but that even before it was released, “it was painfully clear that there were a number of failures that led to the tragic death of Mr. Thompson”.
He said he had already held the executive staff accountable by requesting and receiving the resignations of three top employees. And he said there could be repercussions for anyone found to be negligent once the full investigation is turned over to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
“I remain committed to ensuring that the Thompson family receives the answers they need and deserve regarding the senseless circumstances of Mr. Thompson’s death,” said Labat.
The attorneys and family advocates also called on the Fulton County Board of Commissioners to take responsibility and act quickly to fix the problems at the jail and urged the district attorney’s office district to file criminal charges in Thompson’s death. They also called on Governor Brian Kemp to address a “mental health crisis” in the state.
Thompson had lost 32 pounds, or about 18% of his body weight, during his three months in the Fulton County Jail and showed evidence of dehydration, the report states. In addition to “countless numbers of insects” all over his body, his hands, feet, fingernails and toenails were dirty, she says.
Medical records from the prison indicate that Thompson received his last dose of the medications he was prescribed for his mental health issues 32 days before his death, the report states.
“Mr. Thompson was completely dependent on his caregivers to provide both day-to-day care and the acute life-saving care that was necessary to save him from untreated decompensated schizophrenia,” the report says.
The independent autopsy was paid for by the Know Your Rights Camp Autopsy Initiative, an initiative started by former NFL star and activist Colin Kaepernick.
