ATLANTA – The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of a 25-year-old trans woman who committed suicide and hanged herself in her cell on December 6, 2017 in Valdosta State Prison. The prison system this week agreed to pay her parents $ 2.2 million in severance pay.

The four defendants named in the lawsuit are the GDC, then-overseer, Don Blakely, a then-correctional officer, James Igou, and the Georgia Board of Regents.

The Regents Board was named for administering Augusta University’s Georgia Correctional Healthcare program, which provides health care to inmates, including mental health care.

“The financial settlement is barely fair,” Sheba Maree, Mitchell’s mother, told CNN in an exclusive interview. “I’d rather have my child… nothing will ever, ever, ever take my child’s place. To me, this is blood money, and I will not stop until those involved in their death are held accountable. “

Maree told CNN that she is calling for a criminal investigation into the death. She believes her daughter was neglected by the guards because she was transgender.

Court documents show Mitchell was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2015 in Union County, Georgia, after pleading guilty of intimidation and robbery.

In the complaint, Sheba Maree, her mother, alleged that she called prison staff on December 2 after receiving a letter from her daughter warning her to commit suicide. Maree stated in the lawsuit that she called the Valdosta staff and warned them to keep an eye on Mitchell, who suffered from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and gender identity issues.

The lawsuit also stated that Mitchell had been injured in the past.

According to the 2019 lawsuit, Mitchell had been admitted to sex reassignment surgery but was held in Valdosta State Prison, a men’s prison. Albany, Georgia’s NBC / ABC-affiliated TV station WALB 10, reported that the lawsuit focused heavily on what happened between 1:30 pm and 2:00 pm on the day Mitchell committed suicide.

From WALB 10:

At around 1:30 p.m., the lawsuit said Mitchell asked a guard to find a correctional officer, James Igou, and a sergeant, Wallace Richardson.

Richardson is not named as a defendant in the current version of the lawsuit, but he was named as a defendant in the original version filed with the court.

The lawsuit said Igou went to Mitchell’s cell and saw a noose around her neck.

The lawsuit accuses Igou of mocking her and encouraging her to commit suicide.

Igou reportedly left around 1:35 p.m. and at least one other inmate told him Mitchell was committing suicide.

They say he laughed and yelled to wait for him to come back because he “wanted to see”.

Before returning, the lawsuit states that Mitchell hanged himself.

Meanwhile, Igou told the sergeant that Mitchell wanted to commit suicide, and an inmate told the sergeant that Mitchell was hanging in her cell.

At around 1:40 p.m., the lawsuit indicated that Igou and the sergeant took their time to return to the cell. A minute later it was said Igou had left and the sergeant was standing in front of the open cell door, a few yards from Mitchell’s body. At around 1:45 p.m., the lawsuit said Richardson closed and locked Mitchell’s cell and left.

Igou, the sergeant, and another officer came back two minutes later. Sometime between 1:47 p.m. and 1:54 p.m., the lawsuit states that Igou and Richardson handcuffed Mitchell. At around 1:54 p.m., Mitchell’s parents say she was killed.

Records from Lowndes County show an emergency call was made at around 1:57 p.m., apparently by an employee.

This is a transcript of that call:

Caller: “What time is it? 1357. Okay, okay. “

Dispatcher: “Lowndes County 911, where’s your emergency?”

Caller: “Hey, can I send an ambulance to Valdosta State Prison?”

Dispatcher: “Okay. What’s the address there? “

Caller: “It’s 3259 Val Tech Road.”

Dispatcher: “Okay. Is that the main prison? “

Caller: “Yes. Come past the tower. I’m not sure of the nature of the emergency, but they all run. So we need them very quickly. “

Dispatcher: “Do you need an ambulance?”

Caller: “Yes, but I don’t know why.”

Dispatcher: “You don’t know any patient data?”

Caller: “No, I don’t. I just heard them calling it on the radio, calling 911, like 1018. “

Dispatcher: “At some point we have to know what’s going on.”

Caller: “Doesn’t respond. Does not react. You are doing CPR. “

Dispatcher: “Okay, there is a difference between CPR and someone who is not responding. So you’re not breathing? “

Caller: “Okay, you’re doing CPR. I watch them. You are doing CPR. “

Dispatcher: “Okay, you have a ‘Code Blue’.”

Caller: “Yes.”

Dispatcher: “Okay. We’ll get them on their way. “

Mitchell was pronounced dead in the hospital two days later.

The Georgia Department of Justice is currently under investigation by the Department of Justice’s Civil Law Department for years of reported homicides in prisons, inter-prisoner violence, and the sexual abuse of gay, lesbian and transgender prisoners by other inmates and staff.

Family members, affected local residents and civil rights organizations including the Georgia ACLU have filed complaints about the inhumane situation in the state’s penitentiary system. Noting issues such as feces and urine covered cells due to sewage backlog and prisoner violence against prisoners.