USA- a prisoner suffering from schizophrenia dies

WASHINGTON-Joshua McLemore, a 29-year-old American who suffered from schizophrenia, was held for 20 days in an isolation cell in the Jackson County Jail, Indiana. He lost 20 kg and eventually passed away. Now the family has filed a lawsuit against the facility: “He was not a criminal. He was simply mentally ill and in crisis. He was out of touch with reality and needed help."

A 29-year-old American, who suffered from schizophrenia, died in the summer of 2021 after nearly three weeks of solitary confinement in a Jackson County Jail in the US state of Indiana. According to the documents of the complaint filed by Joshua McLemore's family, the 29-year-old would have been placed in a soundproofed and windowless isolation cell, where he remained "confined, naked, alone and in a constant state of psychosis for the next 20 days".

The lawsuit was filed against Jackson County Sheriff Rick Meyer, three employees of the prison, a doctor who oversaw the inmate's medical problems, and the company that provides health care services at the facility. McLemore died of "multiorgan failure due to a refusal to eat or drink due to his altered mental state from untreated schizophrenia," according to the coroner's report provided by his attorney. The victim also allegedly had a methamphetamine withdrawal problem which would have contributed to the death.