Lamont Mealy Died of Thirst after He Repeatedly Begged Maryland Jail Authorities for Water. Complaint says Prison Cops Shut Off Water to Black Man's Cell in Solitary Confinement and Denied Food

From [HERE] On December 22, 2022, 51-year-old Lamont Mealy was found guilty of the first-degree murder of his roommate and was sentenced to serve life in prison at the Western Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland. A little more than six months later, he was found dead in his cell. Now, his sister, LaShawn Tyler, is suing the state, accusing prison staff of deliberate neglect and withholding records that could reveal how Mealy's death happened.

According to a complaint filed in the Baltimore County Circuit Court, Mealy, who had a history of mental illness, was placed in cuffs, chains, and a suicide-prevention vest and taken to solitary confinement "on or about" June 30, 2023. After placing him there, two officers—neither of whom was wearing name tags or displaying rank insignia—inexplicitly shut off the water to the cell. 

Around July 2, the same two officers returned to the outside of the cell to taunt Mealy, asking him, "Are you thirsty?" Mealy repeatedly begged them for water but was never given any. The filing also asserts that he was denied several meals and that his condition rapidly deteriorated over the course of the next several days.

On or around the morning of July 5, a lieutenant warden allegedly stood in front of Mealy's cell, "but took no action," according to the complaint. From roughly 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day, the required welfare checks—meant to occur every half hour in Mealy's ward—were not performed. It wasn't until approximately 3 p.m. that the lieutenant warden ordered a sergeant to "pull the man out of there." Staff then dragged Mealy's fresh corpse out on a blanket; no medical staff were called prior to the removal, the filing attests.

Initially, the prison informed Mealy's family that he died of "natural causes," Kristen Mack, the plaintiff's attorney, tells Reason. However, Danny Hoskins, another prisoner who was being held in solitary confinement in a cell adjacent to Mealy's, claims he saw what really happened. [MORE]