Prison Torture of Mentally Ill American - Nine Months Solitary Confinement in Filth

 http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com

What caused Shelby County, Tennessee Jail to ignore missing person reports for 18 days on inmate Larry Neal, while keeping this mentally ill heart patient incarcerated until his death on August 1, 2003?

Why did Shelby County Jail repeatedly and falsely report to Larry’s family and social worker during Larry’s period “missing” that neither Larry Neal nor any unidentified detainee meeting his description was incarcerated?

Immediately after Larry’s burial, why did The Cochran Firm contract with Larry’s mother, Hattie Neal, to sue Shelby County Jail for wrongful death, when the Memphis office of The Cochran Firm was in fact managed by Julian Bolton, a 20-year member of the Shelby County Commission, which is the entity that owns and operates the jail where Larry died?

Was it to protect Shelby County Government that The Cochran Firm merely held Larry’s wrongful death case on its shelves inactive for the next 10.5 months while the Tennessee statute of limitations on personal injury ran?

Why did The Cochran Firm write letters to Larry’s mother and sister, Mary Neal, after contracting with them and lie about a vigorous investigation and legal discovery that law firm was conducting regarding Larry’s wrongful death, when the law firm was actually doing nothing to represent them?

The law office located at 127 Peachtree Street in Atlanta, Georgia is widely advertised as being the Atlanta office of The Cochran Firm. Why did this law office deny being The Cochran Firm's Atlanta office in Fulton County Superior Court when Larry's family brought suit against The Cochran Firm and served the suit to that office? If that law office is not a Cochran Firm law office, why is it allowed to be advertised as such?

The Cochran Firm’s undisclosed conflict of interest, deliberate malpractice, and fraud of its clients effectively shielded Shelby County Jail from answering any Larry’s family’s questions regarding his incarceration and death.

This website seeks to chronicle the journey of Larry Neal's family as they bring these injustices into the light of the public forum. Please read our full story, view our documentary evidence, and contact us. Larry's family counts on you to help bring justice and closure regarding his wrongful death and to help decriminalize mental illness in America. Larry's secret incarceration and death in jail demonstrate plainly that many of America's mentally ill citizens need hospitalization. Incarceration and homelessness must not continue to be our answer to mental illness.

Questions Continue for S.C.I. Smithfield 

http://www.wjactv.com/news/15011671/detail.html

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- After dozens of people protested against alleged inhumane treatment of inmates at S.C.I. Smithfield in Huntingdon County, family members of inmates who killed themselves while in prison have many questions for facility officials.

Joe Kapa Sr. sent a $200 check to his son on June 23, 2007. It was cashed on June 28 -- three days after Kapa's son hanged himself in his prison cell. He showed paperwork proving his allegations. He said the prison never answered him on where the money went. But officials told Channel 6 News what can happen to money when inmates pass away.

"The prison has the power of attorney over the inmates and anything that's sent to them," said Lisa Hollibaugh, the assistant superintendent at S.C.I. Smithfield. "If money remains on their account after death, we use it to pay to mail their belongings to their families, or to pay for cremation if that's what the family chooses. Anything left over after that is mailed to the family."

But the families of Joe Kapa Jr., Joe Holguin, and Clifford Finney said they never received any money back after the men hanged themselves on June 25, Oct. 29, and Dec. 2, 2007, respectively. And they said the prison never explained to them where the money went.

While the families were protesting outside the prison over the weekend, they said a corrections officer yelled to them, "Suicide is the answer to overcrowded prisons." They took down the license plate number. Prison officials said they ran the plate and found it did not belong to a Department of Corrections employee. The prisoners' rights groups at the protest plan on running the plate on their own to find out for sure.

Hakeem Shaheed served nearly 20 years at the United States Penitentiary in Marian, Ill., where he said he was brutally beaten. His story was covered nationally.  "In my case, I was tortured for two hours," said Shaheed. "Nine guards were removed from Marion Federal Penitentiary, and the case is still under investigation."

He protested with families outside S.C.I. Smithfield who said they don't believe their loved ones committed suicide. They believe either they were killed and corrections officers made it look to be suicide, or that officers helped them hang themselves.  "I know sometimes where they know an inmate is about to commit suicide and they basically let him do it," added Shaheed.