ROCKDALE, Ga. – Shali Tilson was 22-years-old with a history of mental illness – diagnosed with schizophrenia and in need of medical assistance not only during his arrest, but during his time as an inmate.

Tilson was arrested March 2018 for beating on a door where he had previously resided. As a result, he was jailed and charged with disorderly conduct.

CBS News reported that a lawsuit was filed by Tilson’s family who claims Rockdale County Jail was negligent and resulted in the death of their loved one.

A lawsuit filed by Tilson’s family stated he was in the “midst of a medical crisis” at the time of the arrest and “required immediate medical attention” but was instead placed in solitary confinement. The lawsuit also alleges deputies neglected their duties, falsified their watch logs and on the day Tilson died he “pressed the emergency call button in his cell. It did not work.”

According to the family’s lawyer, Mawuli Davis, deputies in the jail used force on Tilson at least six times.

In addition to this, it is alleged that they falsified logs on the day he passed. They were supposed to check on Tilson every 15 minutes being that he was on suicide watch. They did not.

“He had to go at least two to three days with an inadequate amount of water,” Davis stated. “Two to three days.”

Tilson died of dehydration just less than two weeks after his arrest.
He hit the emergency call button inside his cell. The button didn’t work.
Tilson was in desperate need of help and no one came to his aide.

Tilson’s mother, Tynesha Tilson, expressed, “I know my son’s not resting in peace.”

In near speechlessness, she said, “they sat there and watched him die a slow, horrible, cruel death.”

Another inmate died less than three months after Tilson’s death. Her name was Jamie Henry.

Henry was arrested for violating probation but during her time in Rockdale County jail, she was reportedly neglected when she needed treatment for her withdrawal symptoms. She died from complications in relations to cocaine and morphine.

Henry was 40 years old.

Davis pleads for the Justice Department to take a look into the deaths.