Alabama Jailer pleads guilty in case of incarcerated man who froze to death

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — A former corrections officer at an Alabama jail pleaded guilty to criminal charges for his role in the death of a man who died of hypothermia after being held naked in a concrete cell for two weeks.

Joshua Conner Jones pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of criminal conspiracy to deprive an inmate of their rights related to the 2023 death of Tony Mitchell, 33, according to federal court records. Jones also pleaded guilty to a separate rights-deprivation count related to the assault of another unidentified inmate.

The charges against Jones and his intention to plead guilty were announced in July. A second Walker County jailer, Karen Kelly, agreed to plead guilty to related charges shortly after.

Jones is out on bond while he awaits sentencing.

Jones’ plea agreement included three additional unnamed co-conspirators that allegedly contributed to Mitchell’s death, an indication that more people could be charged.

Attorneys for Jones declined to comment.

Mitchell was arrested Jan. 12 after a family member noticed he appeared to be experiencing a mental break down and asked emergency responders to do a welfare check on him. After law enforcement arrived, Mitchell brandished a handgun and fired at least one shot at deputies, according to a statement made by the Walker County sheriff’s office at the time.

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In the two weeks that he was incarcerated, the plea deal describes Mitchell as “almost always naked, wet, cold, and covered in feces while lying on the cement floor without a mat or blanket” and eventually, “listless and mostly unresponsive to questions from officers.”

Instead of getting Mitchell medical treatment, Jones and his co-conspirators said that Mitchell “‘gets what he gets since he shot at cops’ or words to that effect,” according to the plea deal.

On Jan. 26, 2023, corrections officers finally drove Mitchell to a hospital emergency room, according to the plea document, waiting more than three hours after a nurse insisted that he needed urgent medical attention. Mitchell died shortly after. His death certificate listed his cause of death as hypothermia and sepsis from medical neglect.

The plea deal said Jones “admitted that ‘collectively we did it. We killed him.’”

In August, Jon C Goldfarb, an attorney representing Mitchell’s family in the civil litigation, told The Associated Press that “the family is shocked to see in writing what they knew happened to Tony Mitchell.”