The death of Ramon McGhee, a Shelby County Jail inmate who was malnourished and covered in bed bug bites and feces when he died in early January, was “completely unacceptable,” the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Thursday evening.
The statement was posted to social media nearly a month after McGhee’s death, and a day before notable civil rights attorney Ben Crump was due to host a press conference in Memphis on the topic.
“It is imperative for the community to understand that the death of Ramon McGhee was completely unacceptable,” SCSO said in the statement. “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.”