Man found dead eaten by bed bugs in Atlanta jail, lawyer says

[Jilly_in_VA]

An Atlanta man died in a local jail after being eaten alive by bed bugs, alleges a lawyer representing the man’s family.

The family of Lashawn Thompson, 35, is calling for a criminal investigation into Thompson’s death and for the closure and replacement of a local jail after alleging that Thompson died in custody from bed bugs in a squalid jail cell.

Thompson was incarcerated at the Fulton county Jail in Atlanta on a misdemeanor charge. Jail officials had placed Thompson in the facility’s psychiatric unit after determining that he had mental health issues, but noted that he was physically healthy.

On 13 September 2022, three months after being arrested, Thompson was discovered dead inside a dilapidated cell covered in grime and insects. The cell was so filthy that an employee wore a hazmat suit upon entering, the Washington Post reported.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/15/atlanta-jail-man-dead-eaten-bed-bugs

A mentally ill man arrested on misdemeanor charges is left long enough to DIE and be eaten at by bedbugs. What's wrong with this pictures?

[multigraincracker]

1. Cruel and unusual punishment.

Open and shut case.

[Diamond_Dog]

2. Let me guess .... the pro-life crowd is silent on this one?

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. But of course

The man is a Black adult. Questions?

[Sky Jewels]

4. Only a shithole country would allow this.

[hueymahl]

8. Careful about throwing stones

Fulton County is run 100% by local Democrats, most of them highly competent. I imagine there is more to this story.

That said, it sounds horrific and those responsible should be held accountable.

[hueymahl]

9. I was about to say the same thing

More or less. Without the highly competent part. Like the rest of society, cities run by those affiliated with the Democratic party have highly incompetent employees working. The Atlanta and Fulton County jail system is full of people who could not get a job anywhere else.

[mike_c]

5. bed bugs are fluid feeders-- they don't eat flesh

Eom

[Jilly_in_VA]

6. Are you thinking of maggots?

Bedbugs most certainly do feast on you when you're alive. Also, if you read the article, it mentioned "other small insects".

[mike_c]

7. bed bugs are hemipteran insects

The entire order is fluid feeding, exclusively. They have piercing, sucking mouth parts that cannot chew solid food of any kind. They do not feed from decomposing corpses. Imagine trying to chew with a straw. Maggots, on the other hand, are larval flies. They do eat flesh with modified mouth hooks derived from ancestral chewing mandibles. Flesh flies also lay their eggs on fresh corpses. They mostly consume dead flesh, colonizing it only after it's already deceased. The likelihood that this guy was killed by insects is virtually nil, and certainly not as suggested in the article.