Activists and the family of a U.S. Army veteran who suffered from mental health issues and died in the DeKalb County jail earlier this month gathered outside the facility Thursday afternoon to call for a speedy investigation into his death.
Christon Collins, 27, had already served two stints in the DeKalb jail this year before he was found suffering a medical emergency in his cell March 13, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. Collins was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead two days later.
At a news conference Thursday, Collins’ mother, Jonia Milburn, said he had no pulse when he was found. She asked the sheriff’s office to conduct an autopsy as soon as possible and release the results to her. The sheriff’s office has not publicly shared any information since announcing Collins’ death.
Milburn said she’s been frustrated by a lack of transparency. She lives in Houston and has spent the week in metro Atlanta trying to get answers about the circumstances around Collins’ death, with nothing to show for her efforts.
Milburn said she’s tried to meet with DeKalb Sheriff Melody Maddox but has not been allowed to speak with her. One of the jail’s mental health professionals met with her during one of Collins’ earlier jail stints in December, Milburn said. That official told her Collins would have a mental health evaluation, but Milburn said she hasn’t seen those results.
Collins’ mental health issues were well-known to law enforcement and Veterans Affairs officials, according to Milburn. She previously arranged for someone to transport him from the jail to a VA hospital, but Collins ran away immediately after being dropped off. He similarly fled in multiple other instances, she said.
In January, Collins pleaded guilty to interference with government property and obstruction, the AJC reported. He received a two-year sentence in that case, but officials ordered his release after less than a month on the condition that he get treatment at the VA Medical Center. He was arrested less than a week later on a criminal trespass charge, then arrested a final time Feb. 4.
“My son was sick,” Milburn said. “He was diagnosed. He needed treatment.”
Amos King, president of the local organization Justice 4 Veterans, said Collins was legally entitled to medical treatment that he never received.
“By law, that young man should have received treatment from the VA,” King said.
Erica Schneider, a representative of the Atlanta Alliance, a human rights organization, pointed out that investigations into deaths involving law enforcement sometimes follow no timeline. Her organization has worked for more than a year to get the autopsy results in the shooting death of 23-year-old Osiris Bennett by MARTA police, but no information has been shared with the public.
Jails and prison facilities around metro Atlanta have come under fire in recent years due to high rates of inmate mortality. A report released this year by the U.S. Bureau of Prisons criticized the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary for more inmate deaths than any other prison in the country between 2014 and 2021. The Fulton County Sheriff’s Office was heavily criticized for 10 inmate deaths in 2023 alone. Three people have died in the Henry County Jail already this year, and at least three died in the DeKalb jail last year.
“Christon is gone. It’s an unfortunate thing,” Milburn said. “We pray that there are no other Christons in there, lying in their cell with no pulse. We pray that no other mother has to go through this journey.”
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