Sam Amico
The family of a man who died in the Jackson County, Indiana, Jail is suing the system, claiming those in charge left him in solitary confinement and caused him to become severely malnourished.
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Joshua McLemore, 29, was believed to have suffered from schizophrenia and allegedly spent 20 days in solitary confinement.
Named in the lawsuit are Jackson County, the area’s sheriff, jail commander and medical staff, as well as Advanced Correctional Healthcare, Inc., a Tennessee-based private contractor that provides healthcare services to Jackson County Jail.
Joshua McLemore
McLemore had been in jail following his arrest for pulling a nurse’s hair while receiving care for a mental health crisis at the Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, Indiana, according to CBS News. He reportedly was stripped of his clothes and immediately placed in a padded cell.
As the suit stated, McLemore had not been tried for or convicted of a crime. He continued to experience “active psychosis” while in isolation at the jail, the suit claimed.
All the while, he received little food and limited medical care, the suit continued.
Per CBS: “There are more than 400 hours of recorded video that allegedly show McLemore’s ‘active psychosis and deteriorating condition,’ the lawsuit said. Some videos were included in the lawsuit and show McLemore’s behavior in his cell.”
What food McLemore did receive often went untouched, per the suit.
“Relatively little of the food Josh received made it into his mouth,” the lawsuit read. “Instead, it ended up littering the floor of his cell along with urine, feces, and scraps of paper and Styrofoam he tore from the food containers.”
McLemore’s death was investigated by Indiana State Police. No one has been charged in the case.
