Man accused of stealing $5 in snacks died in jail as he waited for space at mental hospital

[Dexter]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/man-accused-of-stealing-5-in-snacks-died-in-jail-as-he-waited-for-space-at-mental-hospital/2015/09/29/7ceac8a2-5aff-11e5-9757-e49273f05f65_story.html

Jamycheal Mitchell had stopped taking his schizophrenia medication before he walked into a 7-Eleven near his family’s Portsmouth, Va., home in April and allegedly stole a Mountain Dew, a Snickers bar and a Zebra Cake totaling $5.05. After the 24-year-old’s arrest, a judge ordered him to a state psychiatric hospital to get help. But like an increasing number of the mentally ill, he sat in jail for months as he waited for a bed to open. Other inmates said Mitchell paced naked in a cell often covered in his own filth. Family members said they were told he sometimes refused to eat or take medication, and jail records show he manically yelled. He grew gaunt, and by Aug. 19 he was dead, having shed at least 36 pounds.

[aligncare]

This is so wrong. Authorities have a responsibility to properly care for those whose liberty the state has taken.

[EC]

Sure. Force feed hunger striking terrorists. Let an obviously VERY sick man starve to death.

[truth_seeker]

The big big issue is incompetence in government, at all levels and in many departments and disciplines.