PORTSMOUTH, Va. — A judge has signed off on a $3 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of Jamycheal Mitchell, who died in Hampton Roads Regional Jail in 2015.
Mitchell, 24, was jailed for allegedly stealing about $5 worth of food from a convenience store in April 2015. He spent four months behind bars before jail staff found him dead in his cell in August.
In issuing her opinion, District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith called Mitchell's death "shameful."
"This settlement brings a monetary conclusion to a lawsuit involving some of the most appalling and inhumane allegations to which the undersigned judge has been privy in over thirty years on the federal bench," Judge Smith wrote. "Sadly, it does not determine any ultimate liability in the case."
Three months before Mitchell's death, Judge Morton V. Whitlow ordered Mitchell be transferred to a state mental hospital, but he remained locked up.
State investigators said Mitchell's name wasn't on a waiting list for a bed at the state hospital, despite even a second order from the judge in July 2015.
In her order issued Tuesday, Judge Smith described Mitchell's weight loss after spending months in solitary confinement, going from 180 pounds to 144 pounds.
"His deteriorating mental and physical condition was basically ignored, and he died amid his own feces and bodily fluids on August 19, 2015, from 'wasting syndrome,' without the judge's Competency Restoration Order, issued on May 21, 2015, ever being finally processed," Judge Smith wrote.
A medical examiner had concluded Mitchell died of a heart condition, accompanied by a large loss of weight.
RELATED: Prosecutors: No charges sought in death of Jamycheal Mitchell at Hampton Roads Regional Jail
The Department of Justice completed an investigation that started in December 2016 into the Hampton Roads Regional Jail in Portsmouth, and it concluded that there is reasonable cause to believe that the jail failed to provide constitutionally adequate medical and mental health care to prisoners.
However, the Portsmouth Commonwealth's Attorney Office has said "no charges can be sought at this time" in Mitchell's death.
In addition to Hampton Roads Regional Jail, medical provider NaphCare, and the state of Virginia were also defendants named in the lawsuit.
The defendants in the lawsuit do not admit to "any liability" as part of the settlement, according to documents.
In signing off on the settlement, Judge Smith said the money can't bring change the circumstances behind Mitchell's death, "but it does bring some closure to his family, as well as heightened public awareness of the inadequacy of the penal system as a proper setting in which to address mental health issues."