A man found dead and covered in lice and feces at a jail in Atlanta was malnourished, dehydrated and had not received his schizophrenia medication for a month, a private coroner said Monday.

The coroner of Fulton County, Georgia, had ruled in September that the cause of death of 35-year-old Lashawn Thompson was "undetermined."

But Roger Mitchell, the coroner hired by the family of the deceased said that he had been "neglected to death" and called what happened a "homicide".

Thompson's family released Mitchell's report Monday, and the lawyers they hired demanded authorities take responsibility.

"For 93 days there was serious neglect of a mentally ill citizen," said Ben Crump, the famed civil rights attorney who has handled numerous cases of police abuse against African-Americans. "It was not a natural death. It was a homicide," Crump said.

Images provided by the family of the condition in which the cell was located.E.M.

Thompson, a homeless African-American, had been arrested on June 12, 2022, while sleeping in a park across from an Atlanta daycare.

He had an outstanding arrest warrant for robbery, but was jailed for "assault" by allegedly spitting on law enforcement officers.

He remained in jail because he could not pay bail to be released.

Within the first two months of his incarceration, Thompson was in good condition, according to Mitchell's report.

The prison's mental health officer reported on July 27 that he was in a clean cell, living normally, healthy and taking his medication for bipolar and schizoaffective disorders.

According to Mitchell, in the next 43 days there were hardly any reports of his care and no record of him receiving his medications.

When the coroner was able to examine Thompson's body, days after his death, he discovered that he was suffering from malnutrition and dehydration; He had lost 18% of his body weight and had an extensive and severe lice infestation.

Crump demanded local authorities investigate the death, but did not file a civil lawsuit, as he has done in many previous cases of police killings.

"Someone has to be held accountable for this," said the lawyer, who called the death "criminal negligence."

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