Jailer to plead guilty after mentally ill man, 33, froze to death in police custody when he was left naked and covered in faeces in a concrete cell for two weeks

A former jailer is set to plead guilty to a criminal charge in the death of a mentally ill man who froze to death in police custody after being left naked and covered in faeces for a fortnight.

Joshua Conner Jones, an ex-corrections officer at the Walker County Jail, Alabama, has entered into a plea deal according to court documents, over the treatment of two inmates, including Tony Mitchell.

Mitchell, 33, died on January 26, 2023, after being dashed from his cell to a hospital emergency room with a body temperature of 72 degrees, according to a lawsuit filed in February against the jail by his mother.

The plea agreement stated that Mitchell 'was almost always naked, wet, cold, and covered in feces while lying on the cement floor without a mat or blanket'.

By the second week of his incarceration, he was 'largely listless and mostly unresponsive to questions from officers,' but no measures were put in place to reduce his suffering.

Jones has now agreed to plead guilty to the count of depriving the inmate of his rights, while also pleading guilty to a separate rights-deprivation count related to the assault of another inmate.

The plea agreement suggested there were five individuals involved in the abuse of rights that led to the Mitchell's death. 

Prosecutors wrote in the plea agreement that the former jailer had admitted that 'collectively we did it. We killed him'.

Mitchell was initially arrested on January 13, 2023 after his family members called the police, reporting his erratic behaviour.

When deputies arrived, they found Mitchell in the front yard and said he immediately pulled out a handgun and fired at least one shot at them.

The man ran off into nearby woods and was hiding in a shed when they tracked him down.   

Prosecutors wrote in the plea agreement that when Mitchell's deteriorating condition would be mentioned, the co-conspirators would reply that ' 'he gets what he gets since he shot at cops' or words to that effect.' 

Mitchell was then booked into the Walker County Jail on charges of attempted murder. 

On the day he was arrested, Mitchell was brought before a judge and was listed as 'unable to sign' paperwork, according to court records.

Earlier this year, a family member said they had believed jail would be a safe place for the man.

'We knew he was in jail, and we thought that was the safest place for him at the time,' a family member said. 'But it turned out to be the worst place for him.'

The distraught family in February filed a lawsuit against the jail.

'This is one of the most appalling cases of jail abuse the country has seen,' the 37-page federal lawsuit filed by the family alleges.

Shocking video of Mitchell being carried out of the jail on January 26 shows the man being dragged and placed into a patrol vehicle before he was later declared dead.

The video allegedly contradicts the sheriff's original statement that Mitchell was having a medical issue but had been 'alert and responsive' when he was taken to the hospital.

The complaint filed by the family alleges hospital staff at Walker Baptist Medical Center spent three hours attempting to resuscitate him before he was declared dead.

According to the physician's statements, the Mitchell's cause of death was believed to have been hypothermia.

'I am not sure what circumstances the patient was held in incarceration but it is difficult to understand a rectal temperature of 72 degrees F, 22 degrees centigrade while someone is incarcerated in jail,' the suit stated.

'The cause of his hypothermia is not clear. I do not know if he could have been exposed to a cold environment. I do believe hypothermia was the ultimate cause of death,' it continued.

In their suit, Mitchell's family claimed he had been stripped naked and placed in a concrete isolation cell for the time he was there.

They also claimed five hours went by between Mitchell being removed from the 'frigid environment' to him being taken to the hospital.

'The cell lacked a bed or other furnishing,' the suit stated.

'There was only a drain in the floor that could be used as a toilet. The cell was bare cement, the equivalent of a dog kennel. But unlike a dog, Tony was not even given a mat to sleep on.'   

In a statement after his death, the Walker County Sheriff's Office released a statement detailing the death of Mitchell in the law enforcement agency's custody.

'On Thursday, January 27th, an inmate in the Walker County Jail was provided a routine medical check by jail medical staff,' the statement begins.

'Medical staff determined the inmate needed to be transported to the hospital for further evaluation.

'The inmate was alert and conscious when he left the facility and arrived at the hospital. Shortly after arrival at the hospital, the inmate suffered a medical emergency and became unresponsive.

'Life saving efforts were performed by hospital staff and the inmate was ultimately revived. Unfortunately, a short time later, the inmate passed away,' the statement ended.

Following Jones' plea agreement, Jon C. Goldfarb, an attorney representing the family in the civil litigation, said 'the family is shocked to see in writing what they knew happened to Tony Mitchell.'