WALKER COUNTY, Ala. (WBRC/Gray News) – A former corrections officer has formally pleaded guilty in the death investigation of Tony Mitchell in the Walker County Jail.
Joshua Jones, 25, pleaded guilty to deprivation of civil rights under the color of law and conspiracy in the ongoing investigation into Mitchell’s death inside the Walker County Jail.
WBRC reports inside the federal hearing Tuesday, Jones took full responsibility, confidently entering a guilty plea in both counts.
Jones was working the day Mitchell was brought to the jail for reportedly firing at deputies who were conducting a welfare check.
“Jones believed that [Mitchell] needed to be taken to a hospital or mental health facility rather than being incarcerated at the jail,” the plea agreement stated.
According to court records, Mitchell was denied medical and mental health care screenings after being booked in the jail, something that is available to every inmate. Mitchell was unable to dress himself and was taken to a cell in a wheelchair.
“Defendant Jones observed [Mitchell] deteriorate over the course of his incarceration,” court records cited. “As the time passed, [Mitchell] was almost always naked, wet, cold, and covered in feces while lying on the cement floor without a mat or blanket. By the second week of incarceration, [Mitchell] was largely listless and mostly unresponsive to questions from officers. Nonetheless, neither defendant Jones, nor any of the co-conspirators took steps to alter the conditions in which [Mitchell] was housed despite [Mitchell’s] obvious suffering.”
Mitchell died two weeks after his arrest.
One of the charges against Jones involves the assault of a different inmate who was posing no threat to officers, according to court records. The records explain Jones hit the inmate in the face three times with a can of pepper spray.
Additional arrests in the case are anticipated, based on multiple unnamed co-conspirators listed in this plea agreement.
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