
Advertisement
Mitchell, who grew up as an altar boy in Louisiana, according to an obituary, had a habit of stealing inexpensive items as a teenager. He had been arrested twice before, in 2010 and 2012, for petty larceny; the latter incident led to a monthlong stay in a state hospital. When he stole from the 7-Eleven, the items he took were worth about $5—for that, he was taken to Portsmouth City Jail for about three weeks, and then transferred to a regional facility.A judge said he was not competent to stand trial, but the hospital he was supposed to be sent to had no open beds. So he remained in jail, where, his family told the Guardian, he eventually started refusing meals and medications, then died. "Officials from the court, the police department and the jail could not explain why Mitchell was not given the opportunity to be released on bail," Swain reported.According to data just released by the Department of Justice, the number of people who have died behind bars has increased the three years in a row, from 2010 to 2013. Suicide has been the leading cause of death since 2000, the report notes. It does not break down data by race.Related: Dead or in Jail: The Burden of Being a Black Man in America
Advertisement
