Video footage showing Connecticut prison officers striking an inmate multiple times, stripping him naked, placing a spit bag over his head, and pepper spraying him shortly before his death in 2018 has been publicly released.
J'Allen Jones, 31, died on March 25, 2018, while serving a 10-year sentence at Garner Correctional Institution. He was reportedly suffering a mental health crisis and officers were attempting to move him to a medical unit.
The video was released by a state judge in Hartford who is overseeing a lawsuit filed by Jones' family against eight officers and a prison nurse. The Department of Correction had sought to keep the footage sealed since 2019, citing potential security issues related to the prison's layout and staffing patterns. However, Jones' family, the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, and local NAACP officials advocated for its public release to ensure transparency.
Ron Murphy, an attorney for Jones' family, stated that the events depicted in the video are disturbing and, in some ways, worse than the video of George Floyd's death. Jones, from Atlanta, was serving time for robbery.
According to court documents, Jones was experiencing a schizophrenic episode. The video shows him handcuffed and later with his legs shackled as officers used their knees and fists on his legs and torso. At one point, an officer is seen pinning him down on a bed with a knee on his back while others restrained him. Jones can be heard yelling, including phrases like "In the blood of Jesus Christ!" and commands to be uncuffed.
Officers repeatedly told Jones to stop resisting and calm down, with one stating they were trying to help him. Approximately 17 minutes into the video, Jones appeared to have difficulty breathing after a spit bag was placed over his head and he was pepper sprayed. About five minutes later, he seemed unconscious as officers struggled to place him in a wheelchair. Around the 24-minute mark, a nurse was called to evaluate Jones, with an officer noting the inmate was "just being dead weight."
By the 28-minute mark, a nurse began CPR, and a 911 call was ordered. An ambulance crew arrived over 43 minutes into the video. Jones was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
An initial statement from the Department of Correction after Jones' death said he had become "non-compliant and combative with staff and then became non-responsive." The statement did not mention officers striking Jones but indicated no immediate signs of excessive force. Life-saving measures were reportedly performed.
The medical examiner's office determined the cause of death as "sudden death during struggle and restraint with chest compression and pepper spray exposure in person with hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease." The death was ruled a homicide, though this designation does not automatically imply a crime was committed.
In January 2019, a state prosecutor concluded that no crimes were committed in connection with Jones' death. An internal Correction Department investigation found no excessive force was used but determined that the eight officers and nurse violated policy by not recognizing Jones' medical distress for over seven minutes. These nine staff members received one-day suspensions without pay.
Jones was Black. His lawyer noted that eight of the nine defendants are white, and one is Black. Murphy suggested that the public viewing the footage could consider whether race or schizophrenia played a role in how Jones' distress was perceived and handled. He expressed hope that the video would lead to improvements in the prison system and asked viewers to remember Jones as a father and son.
In response to inquiries about the incident, the Department of Correction's interim commissioner, Sharonda Carlos, stated that the agency is committed to improving services for inmates experiencing mental health issues. She noted that a psychiatrist was appointed to lead inmate medical services in May, and the department is implementing enhanced mental health training for staff, emphasizing the responsibility to inmate well-being.