Shelby County inmate died due to neglect, starvation and bug infestation, attorney says

The cause of death for Ramon McGhee, the man who died in Shelby County Jail custody covered in bed bugs and feces, was severe neglect with malnutrition and severe dehydration, Civil Rights attorney Ben Crump said. He had ordered an independent autopsy report into McGhee, whose family he is now representing.

Crump said during a Friday afternoon press conference that the autopsy report also cited starvation and an insect infestation as contributing to McGhee's death. The manner of death was ruled a homicide by the independent autopsy.

"Some of the factors that were proximate causes of his death were severe malnutrition, starvation ... and severe body insect infestation," Crump said. "It goes into detail of all the places ... the second autopsy, where they still found lice and bed bugs on him or bites from them. They found them in his head, in his hair, in his face, his nose, his mouth, his chest, his pubic areas — front and back, his arms, his legs. Multiple insect stages [were] identified, even in the body bag."

Crump went on to say that McGhee's stomach was "virtually empty" during the autopsy and that he weighed 115 pounds. His family, according to Crump, remembered him weighing much more than that when he was alive.

During the press conference, two pictures of McGhee were shown while he was in the hospital. The pictures were taken by McGhee's aunt, Vervita McGhee Stiger, after doctors had cleaned and shaved his head. Although being cleaned, Crump pointed to lice on McGhee's head and ears.

The other picture showed McGhee's bare foot, with apparently dirty and discolored nails, chained to the hospital bed.

"When I saw him in the emergency room and lifted the covers, he was in a totally deplorable condition," McGhee Stiger said. "I've never seen nothing like it before in my life. And I pray to God I never see it again with nobody. All I could say was, 'Oh my god.' Ramon was a healthy young man. I was in total shock. I'm still in shock."

McGhee was found unresponsive in his cell at the Shelby County Jail on Jan. 10 and taken to Methodist University Hospital. He died two days later, but McGhee Stiger said she was told by doctors that her nephew was brain dead when he arrived at the hospital.

According to Crump, McGhee was diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia and was meant to have medication. Crump alleged that he was not given his medicine while in jail. Drawing on a previous case, which Crump said was similar to McGhee's, he said not being medicated causes the brain to not work properly.

That similar case took place in Fulton County, Georgia, where an inmate was covered in bed bugs and lice. Crump said that man also struggled with mental health problems.

"When you have bipolar schizophrenia, and you don't get your medication, then your brain starts shutting down," Crump said. "It quits sending messages to your body. Even though you've been bitten by insects and bed bugs and lice, there is no message from your brain to your other parts of your body to respond. That's why it is so critical that we look at our brothers and sisters who have mental health issues as people that are worthy of the same respect and dignity as anybody else. It shouldn't matter the status of your mental health and the color of your skin whether you get afforded quality health care when you're in the custody and care of any law enforcement entity."

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McGhee's mother, who lives in Texas, recalled her son as a creative person but said his mental health problems were an ongoing struggle.

"He was a prisoner of his mental health," Lisa Shahan Choat said. "I know that people will try to picture my son as a bad person, but he isn't. His mind just took control. He needed help. It's always to be said that there are always consequences behind the actions. That's why he was in there. But it doesn't mean that someone else gets to take judgment upon themselves and hurt my son the way they did."

Shahan Choat said her family spoke to McGhee somewhat regularly while he was in jail, with the last time they spoke being in September 2023 on a video call. Shahan Choat said that McGhee's hair had been shaved, which she asked about during that call. She said McGhee told her he had lice and had to shave his head to clean it.

Over the next three months, both Shahan Choat and McGhee Stiger said they were not allowed to speak with McGhee by the Shelby County Sheriff's Office due to lockdowns and McGhee being in solitary confinement.

At one point, Shahan Choat said she asked for someone to check on McGhee for her. A jail staff member Shahan Choat reached said she checked on him, and that he was safe.

Shahan Choat also said she had been sending McGhee money for meals three times a week while he was at the jail, and asked how he could be starved if she was paying for meals.

McGhee was arrested Feb. 6, 2023, and charged with first-degree murder and especially aggravated robbery that allegedly occurred in November 2022. That was McGhee's first time in jail, his parents said, and court records showed a guilty plea for misdemeanor possession of marijuana charge and some traffic tickets.

An affidavit for the murder case was not available on the Shelby County criminal justice portal.

"They try to say my son is a criminal, but who's the real criminal here?" Shahan Choat said Friday. "To let someone who's in authority, who wears a badge, who wears a uniform, and to hide behind it to put this type of treatment on anyone — not just my son. No one should have to go through that. No one should have to suffer at the hands of someone else. No one made them God. No one made them judge and jury."

When Crump was retained by McGhee's family, he called for a federal investigation of the Shelby County Jail. Thursday afternoon, the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, which runs the jail, said McGhee's death was "intolerable" and "completely unacceptable."

"It is imperative for the community to understand that the death of Ramon McGhee was completely unacceptable," SCSO said in a statement posted to social media. "Immediate action was taken by alerting the [Tennessee Bureau of Investigation] and the [Shelby County] District Attorney's Office upon his hospital transfer. Unfortunately, directions concerning his cell cleaning and personal hygiene were disregarded, and crucial information was withheld. Those within the Sheriff's Office who neglected their responsibilities regarding this tragic incident are not reflective of our values. This behavior is intolerable, and we are fully dedicated to preventing such tragedies from happening in the future."

Friday afternoon, Crump called the statement "the first step towards getting justice," but said he wants to see more transparency, such as images of McGhee's cell, and more accountability from the sheriff's office.

"When people do the right thing — and I know at times our office has filed complaints of things that we thought were inappropriate and not right against the sheriff's department — we want to be the first to say when you start taking steps towards justice," Crump said. "We acknowledge that, but we won't quit this fight until we get justice. This is just a first step towards getting justice. We want criminal culpability and civil accountability for Ramon McGhee."

The Shelby County Sheriff's Office and Shelby County District Attorney's Office did not respond to questions about charges being filed, or policies for mental healthcare within the jail, by the time this article was published.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Ben Crump: Shelby Co. inmate Ramon McGhee died of neglect, starvation