Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. — Four advocacy organizations are asking Virginia’s governor to force the state inspector general to immediately release its report on a mentally ill man’s death in a Portsmouth jail.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports the organizations said in Monday’s letter that they’re concerned about the likelihood of future deaths if problems aren’t remedied.
Twenty-four-year-old Jamycheal Mitchell died in August after losing so much weight his heart stopped. He had been arrested for stealing $5 worth of snack food.
Virginia mental health officials issued a report last week detailing clerical errors in Mitchell’s case. The report did not address why more was not done about his rapidly worsening health while in jail.
Neither Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s office nor the inspector general’s office immediately responded to messages from The Associated Press.
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