CLARKE COUNTY, Ga. — One week after he son died at the Athens-Clarke County Jail, Natasha Dunn still doesn’t know the cause or what led up to his death. Since April, jail officials say four inmates have died, possibly one more the result of fentanyl overdoses.
“The Clarke County Sheriff’s Department came, and they told me my son was deceased. He passed away basically,” said Natasha Dunn.
Dunn told Channel 2’s Tom Regan her 31-year-old son Boycie Howard had been in the jail since last April. She says he had been pulled over from driving on a suspended license and assaulted a law officer.
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“He was trying to take the weapon from the the police officer,” Dunn said.
Dunn says her son suffered from mental illness, including bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. He was placed in “high max” confinement, in which he was only allowed out of his cell for an hour a day.
Jail officials say the reason the inmate was kept in that elevated confinement was because he represented a danger to himself or other inmates.
Staff discovered Howard unresponsive in his cell on July 8. Immediate life-saving measures were initiated by jail personnel and medical staff were notified. He was later pronounced deceased.
“Athens-Clarke County neglected my son,” Dunn said.
Jails officials say they did not neglect Howard. They say he was constantly monitored and was in the process of being relocated to a state mental health treatment facility.
His mother says while her son used marijuana, he did not use hard drugs like fentanyl.
“It was a medical emergency of some kind,” Dunn said.
On Monday, Clarke County Sheriff John Q. Williams say they were taking steps to crack down on drugs smuggled into the jail usually by people who are being booked, and improve addiction treatment for inmates, who often are addicted to hard drugs and suffer withdrawal symptoms in jail. He also expressed his condolence to the families of the four deceased inmates.
“These are unimaginable tragedies and my heart breaks for each and everyone of you who have any connections to these individuals,” Williams said.
The inmate death in April has been confirmed an overdose from a mixture of fentanyl and methamphetamine. The exact cause of the other more recent deaths, including Howard, have not been determined because toxicology tests can take weeks to complete.
Anthony Howard, the father of Boycie Howard, says he cannot believe his son is gone.
“I’m devastated. I’m concerned,” he said.
The family started a GoFundMe to get justice for their son, they said.
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