By-the-numbers when inmates die: Georgia’s jails fail mentally ill

In Lori Carroll’s final hours, as her psychotic behavior spiraled out of control, no one at Muscogee County Jail helped relieve her suffering.

Carroll, 46, had a history of mental illness and had spent multiple stints behind bars for theft, shoplifting and forgery. In her last arrest, officers in Columbus charged her on the morning of October 22, 2013, with disorderly conduct after she harrassed drivers at a local school. Police took Carroll to jail after she refused a hospital mental health evaluation.

Over the course of the next two days, Carroll’s condition worsened in the isolation of cell HD-13. She screamed repeatedly and pounded her fist on the cell door. She spoke to imagined people and thought a man was trying to rape her. She struck her head against a wall and a metal bunk, investigative records show.

On the morning of Oct. 24, less than nine hours after a jail doctor placed Carroll on suicide watch, a guard discovered her cold and stiff on the cell floor. Her mouth and eyes were open. Cuts and bruises covered her body. A state medical examiner noted a serious head injury, broken ribs and a collapsed lung that killed her.

“It was like something out of a horror movie,” said Justin Blake Toland, Carroll’s adult son. “She didn’t deserve that. No one does.”

In Lori Carroll’s final hours, as her psychotic behavior spiraled out of control, no one at Muscogee County Jail helped relieve her suffering.Carroll, 46, had a history of mental illness and had spent multiple stints behind bars for theft, shoplifting and forgery. In her last arrest, officers in Columbus charged her on the morning of October 22, 2013, with disorderly conduct after she harrassed drivers at a local school. Police took Carroll to jail after she refused a hospital mental health evaluation.Over the course of the next two days, Carroll’s condition worsened in the isolation of cell HD-13. She screamed repeatedly and pounded her fist on the cell door. She spoke to imagined people and thought a man was trying to rape her. She struck her head against a wall and a metal bunk, investigative records show.On the morning of Oct. 24, less than nine hours after a jail doctor placed Carroll on suicide watch, a guard discovered her cold and stiff on the cell floor. Her mouth and eyes were open. Cuts and bruises covered her body. A state medical examiner noted a serious head injury, broken ribs and a collapsed lung that killed her.“It was like something out of a horror movie,” said Justin Blake Toland, Carroll’s adult son. “She didn’t deserve that. No one does.”

In Lori Carroll’s final hours, as her psychotic behavior spiraled out of control, no one at Muscogee County Jail helped relieve her suffering.Carroll, 46, had a history of mental illness and had spent multiple stints behind bars for theft, shoplifting and forgery. In her last arrest, officers in Columbus charged her on the morning of October 22, 2013, with disorderly conduct after she harrassed drivers at a local school. Police took Carroll to jail after she refused a hospital mental health evaluation.Over the course of the next two days, Carroll’s condition worsened in the isolation of cell HD-13. She screamed repeatedly and pounded her fist on the cell door. She spoke to imagined people and thought a man was trying to rape her. She struck her head against a wall and a metal bunk, investigative records show.On the morning of Oct. 24, less than nine hours after a jail doctor placed Carroll on suicide watch, a guard discovered her cold and stiff on the cell floor. Her mouth and eyes were open. Cuts and bruises covered her body. A state medical examiner noted a serious head injury, broken ribs and a collapsed lung that killed her.“It was like something out of a horror movie,” said Justin Blake Toland, Carroll’s adult son. “She didn’t deserve that. No one does.”