PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) – Officials at a Virginia jail say they have found security footage they thought had been deleted that was recorded outside of the cell of a mentally ill inmate who died last year.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Hampton Roads Regional Jail Assistant Superintendent David L. Simons has declined to release the video recorded outside 24-year-old Jamycheal Mitchell’s cell.
Mitchell died in his cell in August 2015 after losing so much weight his heart stopped. He had been arrested for stealing $5 worth of junk food. The circumstances leading to his death are unclear. Jail officials say an internal investigation cleared jail employees of wrongdoing.
Officials say they discovered the video after telling the newspaper in April it had been recorded over.
Mark Krudys, an attorney representing Mitchell’s family, says the footage would presumably show how often guards saw Mitchell.
