Georgia Jail System Pays Trans Detainees Household $ 2.2 Million After Suicidal Dying

Georgia’s prison system has agreed to pay the parents of a transgender inmate who died suicide in her cell in 2017 – $ 2.2 million – after officers ignored their threats and waited several minutes before receiving medical help, such as emerges from documents filed in a civil lawsuit.

The settlement, first reported by CNN, was reached on December 6th – the fourth anniversary of Jenna Mitchell’s death.

One of the largest state prison settlements of all time for unlawful death, it follows the Justice Department investigation into allegations of unconstitutional abuse in Georgia prisons.

“The financial settlement is barely fair,” said Mitchell’s mother, Sheba Maree CNN. “I’d rather have my child … Nothing will ever, ever, ever, ever take my child’s place.”

Maree continued, “To me, this is blood money and I will not stop until those involved in their death are held accountable.”

Mitchell, 25, was held in a men’s prison despite being admitted to undergo gender-confirming surgery, a 2019 lawsuit revealed by her parents.

The lawsuit alleges that Mitchell was placed in solitary confinement after being told by prison staff that she was “moved to the transgender prison camp”.

Two weeks later, on December 4, 2017, Mitchell hanged himself. She died after being in a coma for two days.

Maree called the prison on December 2nd after her daughter wrote a letter saying she would attempt suicide. According to the lawsuit, Maree took the threat seriously because Mitchell suffered from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and gender dysphoria and “had displayed a pattern of suicidal and self-harming behavior”. Prison officials told Maree that Mitchell had already attempted suicide but it was “okay”.

Soon after, Mitchell was returned to solitary confinement instead of being put on a suicide watch. On December 4th, she notified a correctional officer that she was going to hang herself. But the officer left them alone to report the threat, the lawsuit said.

A nurse testified that officers mocked Mitchell before she died and encouraged her to commit suicide.

After Mitchell’s death, the lawsuit continues, the officer’s manager “made a false report of the incident in order to cover up the officer’s conduct.” Even though the guard knew the report was forged, he approved it.

Mitchell’s parents’ attorney, David B. Shanies, called for a criminal investigation into her death, saying in a statement: “There is no question that” [wrongdoers] should “be held accountable.

“Even a record-breaking civil cleanup cannot repair the damage caused by this terrible event,” he said.

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