Employees charged in connection with death and assaults at Alabama jail
[July 29, 2025]
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Six more employees at an Alabama
jail have been indicted in connection with the death of a mentally ill
man who died of hypothermia after being held for two weeks in a concrete
cell, while several of them have also been accused in the assaults of
other inmates.
The indictment unsealed Monday is the latest round of charges related to
the 2023 death of Tony Mitchell after his incarceration at the Walker
County Jail. A total of 20 people have been indicted or plead guilty.
The latest indictment charges the six employees, including the jail
captain and supervisor, with conspiracy, alleging they sought to
“unlawfully punish detainees in the jail for the detainees’ perceived
misbehavior."
Five of the six are charged with depriving Mitchell of his rights,
including depriving him of humane conditions, shelter, sanitation and
medical care.
“The offense resulted in bodily injury to, and the death of, Individual
#1,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment, which referred to Mitchell
only as Individual #1.
The indictment also details a string of other assaults at the jail, and
three of the officers have been charged with deprivation of rights for
alleged assaults of other inmates.
One of the employees is accused of slamming a handcuffed person’s head
into a cell floor. He and another employee are accused of beating an
inmate who was recaptured after an escape. Another is accused of
punching a restrained inmate.
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Two of the employees are charged with obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors said they offered an inmate food from outside the jail
to act as an “enforcer” in his dorm and assault an 18-year-old
inmate. Prosecutors said they later submitted a letter to the court
that falsely claimed the “enforcer” had been a model inmate who
showed zero signs of aggression.
Defense attorneys listed in court records did not immediately return
emails seeking comment sent Monday afternoon.
Mitchell’s death on Jan. 26, 2023, put a spotlight on conditions and
allegations of abuse at the jail in Jasper, Alabama.
Mitchell, 33, died after being brought from the jail to a hospital
emergency room with a body temperature of 72 degrees (22 degrees
Celsius).
He had been taken into custody two weeks earlier on Jan. 12 after a
relative asked authorities to do a welfare check on him because he
appeared to be having a mental breakdown. The Walker County
sheriff’s office said that Mitchell was arrested after firing a shot
at deputies and running into the woods.
Prosecutors wrote in the indictment that for much of his two-week
detention, Mitchell was held in a concrete cell that serves as the
jail’s drunk tank with “no blanket, mattress, or clothing, and was
routinely left naked on the bare concrete floor.” He was routinely
covered in feces and was not provided with regular opportunities to
shower or use a toilet, prosecutors wrote.
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