The family of the 35-year-old man who died inside of a jail cell after being eaten alive by bed bugs has reached a $4 million settlement with Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia.
According to ABC News, Lashawn Thompson died in a mental health ward at the jail on Sept. 13, 2022 just three months after he was arrested and charged with misdemeanor simple battery. As previously reported by REVOLT, back in April of 2023, his sibling, Brad McCrae, spoke with 11 Alive. “I just got a phone call that [my] brother was found unresponsive,” he said. “He was definitely a heavyset guy and from those pictures, he looks totally different. He’s not the same person.” Graphic photos shared by the local news station showed Thompson’s torso covered in bites. “It looks like he wasn’t eating in jail or malnutrition or maybe the bed bugs did it,” McCrae added.
The autopsy report listed “dehydration, malnutrition, severe body insect infestation” and “untreated decompensated schizophrenia,” as the conditions that led to his death. Michael Harper, an attorney for Thompson’s family told ABC News that a statement will not be released on the settlement. “The Fulton County Commissioners’ vote speaks for itself,” Harper said in an email. “They literally watched his health decline until he died,” Harper previously said in a statement to Insider. He also added that the victim’s jail cell “was not fit for a diseased animal.”
Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the launch of a civil investigation into the living conditions Fulton County Jail following a series of reports of inmate abuse and neglect. “Fulton County and the Sheriff’s Office have been made aware of a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice to examine conditions at the Fulton County Jail and will be cooperating fully with the investigation,” Fulton County officials and the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office said in a joint statement.