Latonya McKenzie became dehydrated and weak while in the DeKalb County Jail on a shoplifting charge in July 2021. Authorities brought McKenzie, 44, to Emory Decatur Hospital, where she died from AIDS.
States are required to report deaths in law enforcement custody to the U.S. Justice Department. But McKenzie, who worked as a driver for disabled people, was not included in the quarterly reports the state’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council sent the federal government.
Nor was Annabelle Neumann, 37, a mother and former car saleswoman who hanged herself in the Cobb County Jail in 2020. Nor was Eugene Evans, 73, a truck driver and father of three who died from an illness in the Clayton County Jail last year. Nor were at least 15 other people held in metro Atlanta jails in the last few years.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution discovered these errors while reporting this year on record numbers of deaths in some of Georgia’s largest jails, using GBI and medical examiner reports, death certificates and other documents obtained through the state’s Open Records Act.
After the newspaper asked about the omissions, the council found it had not reported more than 100 other deaths — most likely because other government agencies it relies on for information did not report the deaths, did so months after they happened or submitted incomplete records, it said.
“Your inquiry spurred us to audit our records,” the council told The AJC. “We identified 126 decedent records that we have not reported to DOJ, and we will report these decedents to DOJ during the upcoming reporting period.”
The information is meant to help the government prevent more such deaths, said Andrea Armstrong, an expert on jail conditions who teaches law at Loyola University New Orleans.
“When the data that is provided is missing certain pieces of information or in fact isn’t disclosed at all, that means you can’t then assess, one, whether there is a significant problem in that facility,” she said, “but, two, if there is, what are the best interventions to reduce incidents of death.”
Armstrong spoke at a Sept. 20 hearing before the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, led by U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff. During the hearing, the Government Accountability Office reported it found nearly 1,000 deaths from fiscal year 2021 that states did not report as required by the federal Death in Custody Reporting Act.
The 2014 law requires the U.S. attorney general to study how these records can be used to reduce the number of such deaths and share findings with Congress. The Justice Department has never released such a study, but has commissioned two reports, one to be delivered in 2024. The department can withhold federal funds from states that don’t comply but has not, saying doing so “may have unintended, negative consequences.”
The agency said it is striving to improve the accuracy of its records by offering training and technical assistance to states.
“The Justice Department recognizes the importance of collecting complete and accurate data to inform strategies for reducing deaths in custody,” a spokeswoman said.
Four days before the Senate hearing in September, the agency reported that it had received from states and U.S. territories records of more than 14,300 deaths since October 2019.
The Justice Department rejected The AJC’s request for records filed by Georgia and five bordering states, citing a federal privacy law. North Carolina and Tennessee pointed to the same law in rejecting requests. Florida charged a fee for redacting unspecified information.
Alabama provided redacted records showing 458 people died in state and local custody between October 2019 and September 2022. South Carolina publishes related records online. From October 2019 through October 2022, 441 people have died in custody there.
In Georgia records obtained through the state’s Open Records Act as well as the audit prompted by the newspaper’s reporting show nearly 1,000 people have died in local jails and state and federal prisons since October 2019. Causes include illness, homicide, suicide, accidents and use of force by police. Many who died had preexisting mental and physical illnesses.
Latonya McKenzie, who died last year, had a long record of shoplifting convictions. McKenzie used drugs, had mental health diagnoses, was homeless and stole to survive, according to her public defenders. She was jailed after stealing a sandwich and a drink in August 2019.
Lauren Thrasher, who represented McKenzie, said she was outgoing, had a good sense of humor and was gratified when people cared for her. McKenzie’s Facebook page says she studied early childhood education at Brown Mackie College in Atlanta.
On July 6, 2021, Chamblee police arrested McKenzie after she allegedly stole $45 worth of food, clothing and other items. Her bond was $200, impossible for her to pay, according to her attorneys.
Fifteen days after she arrived in the DeKalb County Jail, McKenzie was moved to another cell because of dehydration, DeKalb Sheriff’s Office records show. Four days later, she was referred to the hospital because of diarrhea and weakness. She was under guard when she died at Emory Decatur Hospital on July 30, 2021. Her death certificate says she died of AIDS.
“It breaks my heart to know that she was in custody — it sounds like for something petty again — when all she needed was help instead of putting her in the system,” Thrasher said. “She was never given a chance to do what she could do in this world and that is because of the system and the cycle she was caught in.”
Credit: DAVID TULIS
Credit: DAVID TULIS
About a year before McKenzie died, Annabelle Neumann was arrested at a hotel in Marietta on weapons and drug charges, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records. She died Aug. 6, 2020, six days after arriving in the jail. A Cobb County Medical Examiner report say she had bipolar disorder and used drugs. She hanged herself in her cell, according to the report, which also says medication the jail used to treat alcohol withdrawal was found in her system.
Neumann graduated from the Academy of Richmond County, studied business management at the University of Tennessee and enjoyed reading thrillers, according to her Facebook page and blog. She was married and worked in customer service for Starbucks, according to her death certificate.
In November 2021, Eugene Evans was arrested in Clayton County based on 2019 charges out of DeKalb for marijuana possession and driving with a suspended license, Clayton police records show.
He’d had cancer and his left leg was amputated because of circulatory problems. He’d also had kidney failure and was a dialysis patient, but it does not appear he received dialysis in the jail, a Clayton Medical Examiner report says.
Evans complained of stomach pain and said he could not urinate, so he was given a catheter, according to the report. Evans was found unresponsive in his cell three days after arriving in the jail. An autopsy report says he died from a “urinary tract infection complicating atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.”
Credit: Family Photo
Credit: Family Photo
A New York City native, Evans came from a big family and had three children, including Almin Evans, who described him as an independent and feisty man who enjoyed fishing, bicycling, long walks and jazz. He wonders why his father was jailed in such a medically vulnerable state amid the pandemic. He said he didn’t know his father was in jail until authorities called to say he was dead.
“I thought he was home,” he said. “I didn’t understand, really. All I knew right then and there was I had to inform my family and I have got to bury my father.”
AJC data specialist Jennifer Peebles also contributed to this report.
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