Jailer: Inmate who lost 46 pounds before dying received food

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A Virginia jail official says a mentally ill inmate who lost 46 pounds before dying in his cell was given three meals a day.

Lt. Col. Eugene Taylor III, assistant superintendent of regional jail in Portsmouth, tells the Richmond Times-Dispatch (https://bit.ly/1RTVjFy ) that video footage outside the cell shows 24-year-old Jamycheal Mitchell receiving the meals. Cameras don’t see inside the cells, so there’s no proof Mitchell ate the food.

Mitchell’s weight fell from 190 to 144 pounds in about three months. The medical examiner said Mitchell died of probable heart failure due to extreme weight loss.

Mental health and civil rights advocates have questioned how Mitchell’s worsening condition could have gone unnoticed or ignored. Taylor says an internal investigation found no evidence of wrongdoing. A separate state investigation is under way.

___

Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, https://www.timesdispatch.com