Seventh former Walker Co. Jail employee charged in federal civil rights investigation

WALKER COUNTY, Ala. (WBRC) - Another former Walker County corrections officer agreed to plead guilty in the ongoing federal civil rights investigation surrounding the 2023 death of inmate Tony Mitchell.

Daniel Lee Allan Brown is charged with deprivation of rights under the color of law. Six others are also charged in connection to Mitchell’s death.

Brown worked about half the days Mitchell was in custody. Mitchell was arrested for reportedly firing at deputies who came to his house for a welfare check.

Mitchell was housed in a holding cell with a concrete floor and no bathroom for two weeks. Court records indicate Mitchell was denied basic medical care, which is available to all inmates.

According to Brown’s plea agreement, he watched Mitchell’s physical and mental condition deteriorate.

“Defendant Brown recognized that [the holding cell] was particularly cold in the Jail, especially in the winter, and that lying on the bare cement floor while naked in that temperature was cruel,” the plea agreement stated.

Brown reportedly approached his shift lieutenant about the decision to keep Mitchell housed in the cold cell, but nothing changed.

“Defendant Brown did not take reasonable steps to alert appropriate authorities about the objectively harmful conditions of [Mitchell’s] confinement,” court records cited. “Instead, he sought to avoid scrutiny from Jail managers by joining others in the jail who permitted [Mitchell] to suffer from the cruel conditions under which [Mitchell] was housed.”

Mitchell was transported to a local hospital after two weeks in the Walker County Jail where he died.

“Emergency personnel documented his core body temperature as 72 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature incompatible with life,” Brown’s plea agreement noted.

Joshua Jones, Karen Kelly, Bailey Ganey, Heather Craig, Grayson Woods and Daniel Wyers are also charged in this case.

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