Iran’s rights chief: In appalling US jail abuse, inmate frozen to death

Iran’s top human rights official says at an Alabama jail an inmate was deliberately frozen to death after he was placed in a walk-in freezer for hours, yet no human rights mechanism dares to question such an instance of appalling abuse in the United States.

Kazem Gharibabadi, the secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights, made the remarks on Thursday, after leaked CCTV footage of the jail revealed mentally-ill Anthony Mitchell, 33, froze to death after he was purportedly locked inside the walk-in freezer while in police custody.

"In yet another appalling instance of jail abuse in the U.S., a man froze to death after being restrained in a freezer! And the fact that no human rights mechanisms dare to pose a question, or unmask the depth of the matter is just terrifying!," Iran's rights chief tweeted.

On January 12, Mitchell, who had a history of mental health problems and drug addiction, was arrested for attempted murder after allegedly threatening to harm himself and others. He was then transported to Walker County Jail. Two weeks later, on January 26, he died at a local hospital after he was taken there for evaluation and, according to a statement by the sheriff’s office, “became unresponsive at the hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.” However, leaked CCTV footage from the jail shows a different story, and his family and protesters are demanding answers. The footage shows authorities carrying Mitchell’s near-lifeless body, which appears frozen, out of the jail and shoved into a vehicle to be taken to the hospital.

A lawsuit by his family alleges that Mitchell was taken to the hospital only after “hours of neglect,” including being locked inside the jail’s kitchen’s walk-in freezer as punishment. “How does a man literally freeze to death while incarcerated in a modern, climate-controlled jail, in the custody and care of corrections officers?” the family's lawyers asked.

Mitchell’s "cell was bare cement, the equivalent of a dog kennel. But unlike a dog, Tony was not even given a mat to sleep on,” the lawyers said.

Margaret Mitchell, his mother, brought the lawsuit against Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith, 10 corrections officers, two nurses and one investigator.

Austin Banks, a former classmate of Mitchell’s, described the circumstances leading to his ex-classmate as "almost barbaric."

“How does America, in 2023, how does a prisoner… die of hypothermia?” he said.

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