NEW IBERIA, La. (AP) - A lawsuit filed against Iberia Parish government and the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office in connection with the death of a 16-year-old who hanged himself while in jail will proceed despite the death of the mother who filed it.
The Daily Iberian reports (https://bit.ly/1NHgpzO ) that Yulanda Thompson filed the lawsuit Aug. 26 in federal court on behalf of her son Daquentin Thompson, who hanged himself while being held in the jail in 2014. Yulanda Thompson died Dec. 7.
Last week, lawyers for the plaintiff, Elizabeth Cumming and Stephen Haedicke, submitted a motion for Tyree Thompson, Yulanda Thompson’s other son, to take his mother’s place in the suit. The motion was approved Friday.
The suit charges that officials failed to look after Thompson, who was suffering from depression and suicidal ideas.
Thompson was arrested in August 2014 and charged with possession of stolen things.
He was taken to the Assumption Parish Youth Detention Center. On Sept. 3, 2014, a grand jury indicted the teenager on the charge of aggravated rape of a 36-year old woman and the case was transferred to adult court. Thompson was ordered into jail Sept. 5, 2014.
The lawsuit alleges the young Thompson should not have entered the adult jail in the first place since he was a minor. Thompson was “transferred to the Iberia Parish Jail, an adult facility with no space or programming appropriate to provide care for a minor child under the requirements of the Prison Rape Elimination Act,” the suit alleges.
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Information from: The Daily Iberian, https://www.iberianet.com
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