Hundreds Rally At Rockdale County Jail After 2 Deaths
Over the weekend, hundreds rallied outside the Rockdale County jail. Two people in custody, Shali Tilson and Jamie Henry, died there recently.
Hundreds of people rallied outside the Rockdale County jail over the weekend. They’re keeping pressure on the sheriff after two people in custody died recently.
It was a hot day so staying hydrated was a priority outside the jail Saturday.
Attorney Mawuli Davis reminded the crowd that dehydration is what killed 22-year-old Shali Tilson. Davis paraphrased Tilson’s autopsy after nine days in custody: “So severely hydrated that he had blood clots in his lungs.”
Less than three months later, Jamie Henry, who family members say struggled with addiction, also died in Rockdale’s jail.
“People don’t care. You’re just a number in there. And it’s not just this jail, it’s every jail,” Henry’s father, Donnie Donaldson, said to the crowd.
No government office keeps track of statewide jail deaths.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation says last year it was asked to investigate 32 deaths in jails. There have been 14 so far this year. It has no estimate of fatalities it isn’t called in on.
The bureau is still investigating Tilson’s dehydration death. It declined to look into what happened in Henry’s later death.
As they wait for the GBI’s report, family members are calling for the jail commander to be dismissed.
“When you’re in a jail and you’re neglected, we believe that there’s some criminal liability there. And that’s what we want to make sure is addressed,” Davis said.
The sheriff’s office is doing its own internal investigation, according to spokesperson Yolanda Lovingood Moore.
“I don’t feel that we have a staffing issue. I mean, of course, we have positions open, but all the shifts are covered sufficiently,” Moore said.
In a Facebook post, Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett said he’d received an enormous number of messages and calls about Tilson’s death.
He invited those concerned to “humble themselves” and wait with him for the investigation to conclude.
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