Mother of inmate who died severely malnourished, infested with bed bugs sues county govt., jail’s healthcare provider
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - The mother of Ramon McGhee is suing the Shelby County Government and the Shelby County Jail’s healthcare provider more than a year after her son died due to severe neglect while in custody.
Court records show that Lisa Shahan filed the suit on January 4. Defendants include the Shelby County Government, the jail’s healthcare provider WellPath LLC, and the WellPath staff who were responsible for McGhee’s treatment and care.
Shahan alleges that the jail and WellPath staff deprived her son of his Fourteenth Amendment rights by subjecting him to unlawful treatment and depriving him of basic, necessary and immediate medical care.
McGhee, 42, was found unresponsive in his cell at 201 Poplar on Jan. 10, 2024.
He was pronounced dead at the hospital two days later while “infested with insects,” according to civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing McGhee’s family.
An independent, preliminary autopsy report, which is cited in the lawsuit, found that McGhee suffered the following before his death:
- Severe malnutrition
- Starvation
- Dehydration
- Infection
- Organ failure
- Extensive soiling with feces and excrement over the body
- And extensive bed bug infestation
The lawsuit argues that McGhee’s death was the result of a deliberate indifference to his declining health caused by “persistent and dangerous unsanitary housing conditions so inhumane as to shock the conscience.”
McGhee weighed just 115 pounds when he died—30 pounds lighter than when he was booked in September 2023.
A doctor ruled McGhee’s cause of death was severe neglect, and that his manner of death was homicide.
Shahan claims that dozens, if not hundreds, of inmates like her son have suffered similar deprivations of their constitutional rights in the past three years.
Sheriff Floyd Bonner said that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and Shelby County District Attorney’s Office was immediately notified of McGhee’s condition when he was hospitalized.
“Unfortunately, directions concerning his cell cleaning and personal hygiene were disregarded, and crucial information was withheld,” Bonner said.
McGhee’s mother is asking the court to impanel a jury to try this case. She’s also seeking compensatory and punitive damages from the defendants named in the suit.
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