Attorneys for the family of Anthony “Tony” Mitchell, an inmate who died in January while in the custody of the Walker County Sheriff’s Office, filed an amended complaint Monday morning, removing all references to Mitchell being placed into a “freezer.”
The amended complaint no longer speaks to Mitchell being placed in a “restraint chair,” a “freezer” or “frigid environment.”
The complaint does go into more detail about the holding cell Mitchell was allegedly held inside during his two weeks in the Walker County Hail. The complaint named the cell as BK5 or “the drunk tank.”
“BK5 lacks a bunk or other furnishings. There is a small hole in the floor that can be used as a toilet for liquid waste and can be flushed from the outside,” the complaint read. “However, the drain is not suitable for disposal of solid feces because it is covered with a grating, and solid feces will not go through the grating easily. The only way for BK5 to remain sanitary and not contaminated by feces is for the inmate to be allowed to leave the cell to use a bathroom in the booking area.”
The complaint goes on to describe the holding cell further.
“Lacking a toilet, the cell also has no sink or any other source of water or means of hygiene. The only way an inmate in BK5 has water to drink is if a corrections officer or trustee brings him water in a cup, or if the inmate is allowed out of the cell to get his own cup of water or to take a shower and is able to drink from the shower. The only way an inmate has an opportunity to bathe or clean himself, or even wash his hands, is if the inmate is allowed out of the cell and taken to the bathroom which has a shower in it.
The cell is bare cement, the equivalent of a dog kennel,” the complaint continued. “Video provided to the estate shows that Tony initially had a mat and what appears to be a blanket in the cell, and he later briefly had a suicide watch garment, colloquially referred to as a “turtle suit”; but the blanket, mat, and turtle suit all were taken from him early in his stay at the jail and never replaced.
“The blanket that was in the cell was taken from Tony at timestamp 25:47:40 of the booking room video. The mat that was in the cell was taken from Tony at timestamp 57:44:40 of the booking room video. The turtle suit was given at timestamp 101:52:01 and taken away at timestamp 117:13:09 of the booking room video.
“After the morning of Tuesday, January 17, 2023, Tony had no mat, no blanket, and no turtle suit in BK5 and had to lie naked on the bare concrete floor.”
The complaint alleges Mitchell was denied access to medical and mental health treatment. It also alleges Mitchell was tazed and repeatedly dragged by corrections officers when he could not walk.
According to the amended complaint, Mitchell was allegedly denied water for 70 hours. It also states he was intentionally exposed to alleged frigid temperatures in his cell on the night before his death.
“Deputies deliberately exposed Mitchell to a frigid environment by causing the prison’s climate control system to blow extremely cold air into his cell, BK5, referred to by some longtime corrections officers and inmates as the “freezer” because of the ability of corrections staff to subject inmates to frigid temperatures there, causing Mitchell, already stressed by dehydration from receiving no water for over two days, to become severely hypothermic overnight and into the morning hours,” the amended complaint alleges.
The complaint also speaks to the time it took for jail officials to get medical help for Mitchell and the condition Mitchell was in when he left the Walker County Jail.
The full amended complaint is 53 pages, and it is available to read at the link below.
