More Arrests Expected in Tony Mitchell's Tragic Walker County Jail Death: "Just the Beginning," Lawyer Claims

Tony Mitchell’s loved ones suspected he endured extreme suffering during his two-week stay in the Walker County Jail before his death, but the recent admission by a jailer in federal court records has surpassed their worst fears.

“We always suspected this, but it’s shocking to actually see what they’re saying,’’ said Birmingham attorney Jon C. Goldfarb, who represents Mitchell’s family in a civil lawsuit regarding his death.

“They’re sad to see it. They’re shocked is what they are,’’ Goldfarb said. “They suspected it, but to see an admission like that is shocking.”

Mitchell, 33, died on January 26, 2023, at Walker Baptist Medical Center, just over two weeks after his arrest on charges that he shot at Walker County deputies responding to a welfare check requested by his family.

On the day of his arrest, Mitchell had covered himself in black spray paint and claimed to have a “portal to hell.”

The county coroner’s death certificate listed Mitchell’s manner of death as homicide, citing hypothermia and sepsis “resulting from infected injuries obtained during incarceration and medical neglect” as the causes.

Mitchell’s mother, Margaret Mitchell, filed a federal lawsuit in March 2023, alleging that jail deputies tased Mitchell and locked him in a freezer, causing his death.

Former Walker County Jail corrections officer Joshua Conner Jones has agreed to plead guilty after being charged in connection with Mitchell’s death. This week, Jones signed an agreement to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter involving reckless conduct in Mitchell’s death and faces up to life in prison.

Jones’ 18-page plea agreement, made public this week, revealed the weeks of inhumane treatment Mitchell endured. Jones admitted, “Collectively we did it. We killed him.”

Jones, who also agreed to plead guilty to an unrelated 2022 case in which another inmate was assaulted, will be arraigned on August 15. A federal judge will set a date to accept Jones’ plea.

The plea agreement mentioned five co-conspirators in the Mitchell case. They were not identified in court documents and have not been charged, though more arrests are expected.

“Jones has taken responsibility for his part in Mr. Mitchell’s death,” Jones’ defense attorney, W. Scott Brower, told McClatchy News.

“I expect this is the tip of the iceberg and in the coming weeks you will see multiple other individuals charged for the death of Mr. Mitchell as a result of the actions or inaction of employees of the Walker County Sheriff’s office,” Brower added.

“While the news of charges against a former corrections officer is a step towards the resolution of this case, it is still an ongoing investigation and maintaining the integrity of that investigation is still of the utmost importance for all parties involved,’’ Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith said Friday.

“For that reason, I will decline to comment further until the investigation is concluded.”

It was initially claimed Mitchell was placed in a freezer at the jail. The plea agreement, however, states Mitchell was put in a “notoriously cold” cell with no sink, toilet, or running water.

When Mitchell was booked, he could not walk, was disoriented, non-combative, and could not follow directions. Officers “wrapped a suicide smock around him.”

Jones said Mitchell never received any medical evaluation until the morning of his death, two weeks later.

Corrections officers repeatedly chose not to help him and would dismiss his needs by saying, “(Expletive) him, he gets what he gets since he shot at cops, or words to that effect,’’ the document states.

“Jones (and the other jailers) spoke directly to (Mitchell) saying that he was now in their ‘house’ and that he had to deal with them,’’ records show.

On January 26, 2023, one of the unnamed officers told Jones that a nurse had ordered that Mitchell be taken to a hospital or he might die.

One of the co-conspirators replied, “I’ll tell you what, next time you’re on the toilet taking a (expletive), I’ll call you to bother you with something unimportant.”

The officers also repeatedly made comments that Mitchell “should have been killed because he shot at deputies rather than being brought to the jail,’’ the document says.

Jones said he watched Mitchell deteriorate over the two weeks after his January 12, 2023, arrest.

“At the time he passed, (Mitchell) was almost always naked, wet, cold, and covered in feces while lying on the cement floor without a mat or blanket,’’ the records state.

By the second week of being jailed, Mitchell was largely listless and mostly unresponsive to questions.

The agreement states Jones and the co-conspirators denied Mitchell medical care by falsely telling medical staff that Mitchell was too combative to be evaluated “when in truth that was not the case.”

The efforts to deny Mitchell medical and mental health care persisted even though he was frequently talking incoherently about “demons.”

“Calling (Mitchell) combative was an excuse to mistreat him,’’ documents state. “There was no conduct that could have been committed by (Mitchell) that would have justified the denial of medical access.”