Alabama Man Freezes to Death on Floor of Jail Cell

“The defendants do not think they did anything wrong,”

William Spivey
The Polis
Published in
4 min readMar 8, 2024

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יוני זינדל, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The last thing Walker County, AL, officer Arthur Armstrong told the family of Anthony Don Mitchell as officers took him away was that they would set Mitchell’s bail “high enough that he would not be able to bond out” and assured him Mitchell would receive medical evaluation and treatment in jail.

“We’re going to detox him, and then we’ll see how much of his brain is left,’ or words to that effect,” — Officer Armstrong

Two weeks later, Mitchell was dead, having spent most of that time in the drunk tank, either naked or partially naked, and subjected to intentionally caused freezing temperatures, according to a lawsuit filed by the family. Cell BK5 was referred to by long-term corrections staff and prisoners as “the freezer” because of the staff's ability to subject inmates to freezing temperatures. The lawsuit includes a quote from inmates:

“Inmates housed there report being able to see their breath because it was so cold and that their digits would turn numb.”

The cell where Mitchell died is intended for temporary use only. It contains no furniture and has a drain for urination, though feces cannot pass through. Several times during his stay, it was noted that…

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William Spivey
The Polis

I write about politics, history, education, and race. Follow me at williamfspivey.com and support me at https://ko-fi.com/williamfspivey0680