MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Friday, the family of Ramon McGhee and attorney Ben Crump provided new details during a press conference surrounding the details of the Shelby County Jail inmate who was found covered in lice and bed bugs before dying at the hospital.
Crump said the family conducted an independent autopsy to determine the cause of death. According to the preliminary findings in that autopsy, severe malnutrition, starvation and severe insect infestation were all factors that led to McGhee’s death.
“One of the ER nurses told my brother and I that Ramon was filthy, filthy!” said Vervita McGhee-Stiger, McGhee’s aunt. “They had to clean him up as best they could before they could even treat him.”
It was Jan. 10th when 42-year-old McGhee was found unresponsive inside the jail and taken to the hospital.
He died on Jan. 12th.
“(They found bugs and bug bites) in his hair, his face, his nose, his mouth, his chest,” said Crump.
The family claims the neglect by jail staff doesn’t end there.
Mother Lisa Shahan Choat said it was during a video chat in Aug. 2023 that she noticed her son’s long hair was cut short.
“I was like, ‘Aw, you shaved your hair?’ And he said, ‘I had no choice, it was full of lice,’” Shahan Choat said. “I said, ‘Did they clean it?’ He said, ‘No, they just cut it.’”
She said that was the last time she talked to her son because for three months, Shahan Choat said the jail would not let her.
“They always gave us some type of excuses. They even had one lady who said she would check up on him,” she said. “She said, ‘Oh, he’s okay.’ But he wasn’t okay.”
Shahan Choat also believes staff did not give McGhee the meals she was sending regularly.
“I couldn’t understand how he was starving if I was sending him meals,” the mother said.
Friday’s news conference came one day after the Shelby County Sheriff's Office released a statement saying they were making changes to jail operations and admitted staff “neglected their responsibilities" in their treatment of McGhee.
McGhee-Stigert argues accountability needs to start at the top.
“Is it that the sheriff, the lieutenant and the sergeants have no idea what goes on in their facility?” she asked.
ABC24 reached out to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office for more information about what charges may be involved.
The Sheriff’s Office said they cannot comment on the pending investigation and civil litigation, while the D.A.’s office said it will not announce charges until the until the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation closes its case.
The official autopsy results have not been released.
According to Shelby County court records, McGhee was in jail on a $1 million bond, facing two counts of first-degree murder and a count of especially aggravated robbery after Bartlett Police arrested him in 2022.
The family said McGhee was diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia and was also not receiving his medication while in jail.
“They just don’t care,” Shahan Choat said. “They just look at them as criminals with no rights.”