Young black man jailed since April for alleged $5 theft found dead in cell

[DonViejo]

Source: The Guardian

A young black man arrested by police in Portsmouth, Virginia, on the same day that one of the city’s officers fatally shot an unarmed black 18-year-old, has been found dead in jail after spending almost four months behind bars without bail for stealing groceries worth $5.

Jamycheal Mitchell , who had mental health problems, was discovered lying on the floor of his cell by guards early last Wednesday, according to authorities. While his body is still awaiting an autopsy, senior prison officials said his death was not being treated as suspicious.

“As of right now it is deemed ‘natural causes’,” Natasha Perry, the master jail officer at the Hampton Roads regional jail in Portsmouth, said of his death in an interview. Perry said there were no obvious outward signs of injury to the 24-year-old’s body.

Mitchell’s family said they believed he starved to death after refusing meals and medication at the jail, where he was being held on misdemeanour charges of petty larceny and trespassing. A clerk at Portsmouth district court said Mitchell was accused of stealing a bottle of Mountain Dew, a Snickers bar and a Zebra Cake worth a total of $5 from a 7-Eleven.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/08/young-black-man-jailed-since-april-for-alleged-5-theft-found-dead-in-cell/

[marym625]

1. omg

What have we become

[slumcamper]

5. Actually, omFg. This exemplifies the value of a life in 2015 corporate America.

REVOLT.

[marym625]

10. yes. oh my fucking god!

This absolutely must stop

[questionseverything]

7. monsters i guess....

The clerk said that typically in such cases “we do an order to restore the defendant to competence, send it to the hospital, and when the hospital has a bed, we do a transportation order, and he’s taken to the hospital.” Whitlow reiterated the order on 31 July and was due to review the case again on 4 September, according to the clerk.

But the hospital said it had no vacancy and the 24-year-old was therefore detained in jail until his death on 19 August, according to Adams, Mitchell’s aunt, who said she had tried to assist the hospitalisation process herself but was left frustrated.

“He was just deteriorating so fast,” she said. “I kept calling the jail, but they said they couldn’t transfer him because there were no available beds. So I called Eastern State, too, and people there said they didn’t know anything about the request or not having bed availability.”

When asked which state agency was ultimately responsible for ensuring Mitchell was transferred to the hospital, the court clerk said: “It’s hard to tell who’s responsible for it.”

Officials from the court, the police department and the jail could not explain why Mitchell was not given the opportunity to be released on bail.//////////////////////////

i do not understand why bail was not set

past that it looks like they did not really try and find a hospital bed for him

they let him starve himself to death in front of the jailers

sad days

[marym625]

9. monsters is right

There shouldn't have even been a need for bail. $5 should never put a person in jail.

The unbelievable sanctimonious government officials that allow someone to go to jail for stealing $5 worth of food should be charged with murder. From whoever wrote a law to the warden. Fuck this insanity.

That poor kid. Heartbreaking

[questionseverything]

12. i do not have a problem with him being arrested even tho the amount stolen was low

but as an American citizen he had a right to be presumed innocent and bail should of been granted until he was fit for trial,since he had a history of having mental health issues maybe a pr bond with conditions he had a reasonable family member (like the aunt in the article) oversee him

it seems we are at a point of having no common sense along with no compassion

[marym625]

42. Arrested, ok

But something that insignificant should not require any jail time, and therefore, no need for bail. Absolutely insane.

Let's see what happens with laws like this if any of the bankers responsible for any of the theft, the illegal practices, the world economic collapse, go to jail for four months for every $5 stolen before they have a hearing

[questionseverything]

54. whenever anyone is charged with a crime as an American citizen

they are presumed innocent, bail hearings and bail being set is how a person remains free while the state prepares their case...bail does not have to be money, personal recognize bonds are common for low level crime...this is my point, he should not have been in jail past 48 hours

the bail hearing step being skipped amounted to the defendant's rights being denied

basically in this case the state falsely imprisoned this young man then denied him medical treatment which led to his death

////////////////////


Let's see what happens with laws like this if any of the bankers responsible for any of the theft, the illegal practices, the world economic collapse, go to jail for four months for every $5 stolen before they have a hearing>>>>

from your mouth to God's ear

[OrwellwasRight]

70. The bankers would make bail and

This would never become an issue. The only way to get the rich to focus on this injustice would be to start charging them bail amounts that are as ridiculous as the amounts charged to poor people, like 500 million dollars or other nonsense they could not come up with. Then they'll get the injustice and demand bail reform.

[Mosby]

73. he didn't need to be arrested

The cops could have written a court appearance ticket for a minor crime like that.

And if they absolutely had to arrest him for some reason he should have been released within a day on bond or OR (on his own recognizance).

[slumcamper]

15. Totally agree.

An injustice against one is an injustice against all!

He needed HELP--not jail, not bail--HELP for chrissakes! Has the place and role of empathy in our public safety system gone completely missing (if ever it existed)?

This speaks to how "justice" in this nation serves a cold and callous corporate master. It exemplifies how the machine subordinates life to the errors of what pass for "law."

[marym625]

43. well said.

And exactly right

[JDPriestly]

32. Judges in America are the gatekeepers.

I want to know what judge put this young man in jail instead of sending him home to his family or making sure he was placed in appropriate housing.

Judges in America could change this police abuse model if they chose to do it. They could as a group stand up for justice for once.

[marym625]

44. They could and should

We need to make sure they do.

[questionseverything]

55. i do not understand how the bail hearing did not take place?

i agree about judges in general, many times bail is set too high and that is a problem all by itself but to hear NO BAIL was set is very disturbing

[mpcamb]

57. Is there still a right to a speedy trial?

'Cause spending public money on keeping a mentally challenged person with a $5 charrge on the public tab for months benefits who?

[OrwellwasRight]

2. The tragedy of "bail"

By the time this poor young man had gotten to either trial or a plea bargain, he would not have been sentenced to more than time already served due to the lack of severity of the offense (unless he had "strikes" against him). What could the average penalty for petty larceny possibly be? Shouldn't he have been let out on his own recognizance after he had served that amount of time? WTF is wrong with our justice system?

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

4. People steal, er borrow $5 out of their mom's purse all over the country.

I can't see anyone being locked up for $5.

[JDPriestly]

33. Really? "all over the country"? Pour of their mom's purse??

I agree that I can't see anyone being locked up for $5. But people steal from their mothers?

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

41. Really? Kids steal from mothers and fathers.

I'm surprised that you've never heard of this.

[magical thyme]

48. yes, family members steal from each other. my father stole my identity

listed me as an his employee at the co. where he was a district manager. took my 1099 "salary" and stuck me with the tax bill, along with interest, penalties and a threat of jail from the IRS.

And in the call center where I used to work we saw cases all the time of parents stealing from their kid's UTMAs. The worst case was a young adult who had a UTMA with another person listed as the custodian. Most likely an estranged father, but who knows? The kid now had a letter from the IRS for not declaring income on this UTMA he knew nothing about. THe custodian, in the meantime, was taking the income.

[JDPriestly]

51. Horrors!

[cstanleytech]

24. I am not sure if bail is the issue to focus on here

"Ten days after that, the court clerk said, Judge Morton Whitlow ruled Mitchell was not competent to stand trial and ordered that he be transferred to Eastern State hospital, a state-run mental health facility in Williamsburg, for treatment.

The clerk said that typically in such cases “we do an order to restore the defendant to competence, send it to the hospital, and when the hospital has a bed, we do a transportation order, and he’s taken to the hospital.” Whitlow reiterated the order on 31 July and was due to review the case again on 4 September, according to the clerk.
But the hospital said it had no vacancy and the 24-year-old was therefore detained in jail until his death on 19 August, according to Adams, Mitchell’s aunt, who said she had tried to assist the hospitalisation process herself but was left frustrated.

“He was just deteriorating so fast,” she said. “I kept calling the jail, but they said they couldn’t transfer him because there were no available beds. So I called Eastern State, too, and people there said they didn’t know anything about the request or not having bed availability.”"

If the jail is lying about sending the request then they could be guilty of negligence in which I hope the family sues the hell out of them.

[JDPriestly]

34. The judge should have sent him home if no facility could receive him.

Our country has far too few facilities for homeless people.

[Supersedeas]

66. ^This

[randys1]

3. Another of endless examples of the two America's.

[Roy Rolling]

6. Heartbreaking

This is what we call the "justice system" in America? What a misnomer that is.

Yes, this is how far we've become. From a nation with an honorable reputation for fairness to a nation so mean-spirited it cannot feel others' pain.

[slumcamper]

8. discovered...by GUARDS early last Wednesday.

1. "Guards"--of WHO, of WHAT?
2. Just now we learn of this?
3. "Natural cuases,"; starvation?
4. Mentally ill?

It is time for full out civil disobedience and massive resistance against the complicit "public safety" charade. To show such callous disregard for a mentally ill youth so as to enable him to starve himself is inhumane, wanton neglect.

It's well past time time to storm the Bastille, folks.

[Geronimoe]

11. Correction

He was black and stole $5 of items from corporation that marks things up 200 to 400 percent. So is stole barely a dollars worth.

Our times are worse than the barbaric age of "The Count of Monte Cristo. A quote from the novel; “What would you not have accomplished if you had been free?"

[erronis]

17. Good points. But he was made yet another example. As will we all.

[WillyT]

13. K & R !!!

[Sunlei]

14. everyone in the system forgot about him? even the arresting officer?

The family should make public a full picture of his body condition and autopsy report.

If this person was an animal, whoever let him starve to death would be charged with a felony.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

26. This. What you said.

You're absolutely right. How can you let someone who is mentally ill starve to death?

[JDPriestly]

36. He should have been sent at the very least to the local hospital before he was that close to death.

[Live and Learn]

16. Crap. Will this never end?

Why is he being held at all on such a small charge? This is ludicrous and immoral. Natural causes, my ass. There is nothing natural about the entire situation, or at least it shouldn't be.

[procon]

18. Since when does starving to death mean a "natural death"?

He spent almost four months behind bars without bail for stealing $5 worth groceries and his mental health problem were just ignored because he in his illness he refused his meds? Is that a crime worth anything more than a fine or a few hours of community service?

There's a more comprehensive article in the Guardian that reports a judge "ruled Mitchell was not competent to stand trial and ordered that he be transferred to Eastern State hospital," in May. He never got there and his incompetent, callous jailers just let him die rather than get him the medical care he obviously required.

[rladdi]

19. In Jail for a $5 buck thief? WHY? When will the USA wake up to our corrupt law enforcement.

When will we elect politicians that care about the people and less about their bank accounts?

[bluestateguy]

20. Broken Windows policing

Thanks a lot, Giuliani and Bloomberg! And James Q. Wilson and George Kelling!

[OrwellwasRight]

71. Broken windows was not supposed to be about policing

It was supposed to be about repairing the small things in neighborhoods before they got large (graffiti, broken windows). It was supposed to be about social workers. I'm not sure you can blame the bastardization of the policy on James Q. Wilson.

[msongs]

21. steal billions, get a job working for the white house occupants. so sad nt

[blackspade]

22. Fucking hell.

Again.
Everyone in that jail should lose their jobs and be banned from being a cop for life at the bare minimum.
Any of these assholes that neglected this man should be brought up on charges.

Despicable.

[FLPanhandle]

23. I'm okay with the arrest but mentally ill people shouldn't go to the jail.

Why is it we always have room in the jails but no room in the hospitals?

The hospital stay would probably be cheaper for tax payers than the jail time.

[silverweb]

68. Perhaps because many jails are now for profit.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I've read that their contracts with local and state governments guarantee a certain occupancy rate, so they must be kept supplied with prisoners.

Profits, ya know.

[FLPanhandle]

74. Maybe we should setup the same deal with hospitals

At least the profits would be in a good cause.

[silverweb]

75. The profits would still go to the 1%.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]That's exactly what all this privatization of public services is about. We The People pay - and the 1% get the obscene profits.

[AuntPatsy]

25. When is this change in our system that allows such horrors to continue going to happen?

[Blue_Tires]

27. More info about Chapman

http://hamptonroads.com/2015/08/portsmouth-commonwealths-attorney-will-pursue-indictment-fatal-officerinvolved-shooting#_ga=1.152322687.778512213.1440789326

[mountain grammy]

28. Justice isn't blind, the American people are.

[ananda]

29. Yet another wrong so deep that ...

... it defies words.

This has got to stop.

[Faux pas]

30. ...

[JDPriestly]

31. The conditions in that jail must have seemed medieval to him.

Poor child. Food worth $5.

What kind of judge sentences a man to any kind of time for a theft of $5.

I want to know about the judge -- assuming there was a trial.

[Igel]

60. 24-year-old child.

Just like I've heard people argue that a 14-year-old girl was a woman and an adult.

Sounds like no trial. Competency hearing. Sounds like he was incompetent. Bipolar schizophrenic. That usually worsens.


"The aunt said relatives had not been able to visit Mitchell because he had not given jail officials their names as approved visitors. 'His mind was gone because he wasn’t taking his meds, so he didn’t have a list for anyone to see him,' she said."

Probably nobody at the jail was authorized to forcibly administer his meds. Going on and off these drugs is bad. It can really play havoc with your moods and your behaviors.

There's a shortage of psych beds.

I could write a similar story: "Young man stripped of competency and civil rights after spending less than 5 years in jail without a bail hearing because of a single punch thrown at his brother." It's utterly misleading. He was bipolar, schizophrenic and had his first noticeable psychotic break. He threw a punch at his brother. That landed him in jail, got him a psych eval, confined to a psych ward for a week until they had his meds stabilized, and returned to jail until his hearing. He was only released to a relative's custody after they'd confirmed he was willingly taking his meds, and to this day if he refuses to then a nurse will show up to confirm this and he'll be back in jail. The punch isn't the reason for his incarceration; it's the trigger.

He'd intended to kill all the male members of his family and managed to get his brother to meet him. The weapon God said he'd provide for the executions failed to be where God had promised. If God had said, "Buy a machete" or "Buy a semiautomatic weapon" his brother and mother would probably be dead. The punch was out of frustration at being tested "yet again by God." "Yet again"? Again, these situations usually have the patient's psych condition worsen. Two years before he was probably ill, but high functioning. His life had begun to unravel. He'd moved home and his mother took care of his financial needs. And his life continued to fray until he was a wannabe murderer. It would have ended with his being a murderer or homeless, almost certainly.

He could not be confined or involuntarily evaluated without having his civil rights violated. It took a petty crime to trigger the process that ultimately ... Well, he's still in sad, sad shape. It's been 7 years now. But he hasn't assaulted his mother (who didn't admit this until after he'd been treated) since his incarceration and forced treatment. Relatives keep dirty laundry well hidden.

"Under 5 years" in my story was, in point of fact, 6 weeks. Which is factually under 5 years. I can manipulate relevance to make you think something false--you probably assumed that meant "less than 5 but more than 4 years"--just as the Rawstory writer plays with our beliefs. That's considered an act of ill-will and bad faith. I fessed up. The Rawstory writer doesn't.

[JDPriestly]

61. Yes. This plays out in courtrooms and hospitals all over the country.

How should we as a society respond to mental illness.
That is an enormous problem that we are not dealing with in an intelligent way.

Thanks for your post.

I hear you.

What percentage of violent crime would you estimate is likely related to mental illness?

Include drug and alcohol abuse as mental illness.

It must be very, very high.

This is another issue that our judges should speak out about. They see so much of this in the courtroom.

At my age, a 24-year-old is a child. Legally an adult, but in terms of experience, very often especially this young man, a child.

[NowSam]

35. Horrible. Where is the justice?

This is heartbreaking. Justice for all is implicitly promised the people as part of the contract. Inhuman. This is a betrayal of the highest magnitude of the public trust. Les Miserables. Guy stole a loaf of bread. Because he was hungry.

If we do not come together and say this will not stand - than who are we? What have we become? Is this the society we want to live in?

Anyone who is okay with this is just pure evil. Our so called leaders and representatives - if they do not demand accountability from those who perpetrate such injustices must themselves be held accountable.

The exposure of this incident like so many others - will it lead to a mass awakening? Enough really is enough.

Captain America, where are you?

[Angry Dragon]

37. kick

[Judi Lynn]

38. How can those involved stand themselves another moment? They are monsters.

This is NO WAY to treat a human being.

The system makes it so easy for these emotionally disturbed people to abuse people without anyone ever finding out in time to do something about it. The system puts the real criminals in charge of helpless, or disabled, or poor people or simply unlucky people who have no one to speak for them.

Who wouldn't expect our government to be big and sane enough to keep a young man from being imprisoned over stealing some food as many children and grown-up people have?

I wonder what Dick Cheney, who shot his poor friend in the face, would have to say about the justice of all this.

[Syzygy321]

39. What. The.

Jailed for months - for minor shoplifting??

Un freaking believable.

Couldn't stand to read the article. But, aside from the obvious crazy unfairness, shoukdnt a civic minded authority in that town realized it was stupid to house and feed a guy in jail for months, because of petty theft?

[sabrina 1]

40. Omg, it just keeps getting worse! $5.00!

That has to be illegal. What kind of bail do you get for that?



So sick of hearing about these horrific murders. Where is the US Govt when it comes to protecting their own citizens, right here in the US?

ISIS? Really?

Over 700 Americans have been killed by US cops and in custody since Jan of this year!!

How many killed by ISIS? 0!

Incredible, and going on for so long and tolerated. It truly is shameful!

RIP to yet another victim of our totally out of control 'justice system'!

[muriel_volestrangler]

45. Institutional manslaughter - they withheld vital treatment, and imprisoned him without process

He's on misdemeanour charges - petty, and non-violent. He shouldn't need bail. If he needed to be in a mental health facility, then they should have sent him there. If they couldn't, then they should have done both what was best for his health and what should have happened to someone on a misdemeanour charge - release him pending a trial - with orders for someone responsible to care for him, bring him at regular intervals for re-examination for his mental health, and for an attempt to get him into a facility.

Jailing him was unnecessary, and fatal. Hell, it probably cost the state more to do that than letting him out and keep reviewing the case would have.

[Unknown Beatle]

46. So, arrest someone who steals $5.00 worth of groceries

and detain them at the cost of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money.

Makes sense to me. Derp!

[d_legendary1]

47. According to VA law

Petit Larceny: Defined as the theft of property or services valued at less than $200, or the theft of property valued at less than $5 when taken directly from the person of another.

Petit larceny is classified as a class 1 misdemeanor under Virginia law (Va. Code Ann. § 18.2-96.), punishable by confinement in jail for not more than 12 months, a fine of not more than $2,500, or both. (§ 18.2-11(a).)


12 months?!?!?! For this? And what about a fair trial?
This is bullshit!

[magical thyme]

49. outrageous. there need to be murder charges brought.

not that anything will bring back his life.

[Dont call me Shirley]

50. Jamycheal...

Hungry people should not have to die for stealing food.

[Babel_17]

52. Only should be held in jail to await trial if it's probable the person won't be there otherwise

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eighth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

The current system is unconstitutional, this kind of imprisonment should only be for those who have a history of successfully evading their appearance in court, and who are a danger to their community.

[Marrah_G]

53. This makes me so angry

No one should be kept in jail on a charge like that. NO ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

[valerief]

56. So, so cruel. nt

[Solly Mack]

58. K&R

[rhett o rick]

59. We need change. Sen Sanders represents that change. nm

[Liberal_in_LA]

62. kick

[glinda]

63. depressing

[LiberalElite]

64. and just what constitutes "natural causes" in an 18 year old??????

and why was he still in jail for a fucking $5.00 theft? Why was he in jail in the first fucking place?????

[freshwest]

65. DENIED Equal Treatment under Law (14A) for being black. AGAIN. n/t

[lonestarnot]

67. Meanwhile, richie rich commends private prison industry. That's where the slaves are kept.

[Depaysement]

69. Huh?

Why exactly was he is jail for 4 months on misdemeanor charges? I see that speedy trial clause in the Constitution works great.

Isn't there a way to give him nutrients so he wouldn't die? Or maybe releasing him might have been a good idea given the charges?

Oh wait. He's black and probably poor. Then it's ok, I guess.

[Sunlei]

72. How do we know the guards didn't feed the man as 'prison punishment' or turned off his water as

'punishment' ? we don't know. Just why was the man held in a cell alone? to be found dead alone 'the next morning'?

Someone who had enough of an appetite for food to 'steal' a drink and a couple cakes, 'starves' them self to death in jail?

The relative who saw him and made many calls to police said, he declined quickly in appearance.