“What happened to Ta’Neasha Chappell?”
This question was asked by lawyer Lonita Baker alongside the family of Chappell, the 23-year-old Louisville, Kentucky, woman who died last week in the custody of the Jackson County Jail, during a press conference Thursday night at 1619 Flux in Louisville.
“That is the question we all want to know, and that is the question that Ta’Neasha’s 10-year-old daughter, Nevaeh, her parents, her siblings, family and friends deserve to know,” Baker said.
On Wednesday, Louisville attorney Sam Aguiar announced he, Baker and Florida-based attorney Ben Crump would represent the family of Chappell to seek answers and justice regarding the woman’s death.
All three attorneys were a part of the legal team that was able to secure a $12 million settlement from the city of Louisville over the killing of Breonna Taylor by police in March 2020.
Baker said the family has not been given much information from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department or Indiana State Police.
What they do know, she said, is Chappell started to get sick July 15 and had a fever severe enough that jail staff checked her temperature every 15 minutes and she also was throwing up. EMS wasn’t called for nearly 24 hours before the time she was found unresponsive at the jail in Brownstown, Baker said.
In the two days the legal team has investigated Chappell’s incident, Baker said they learned of “heinous conditions” at the jail.
She alleged the jail only provided three sanitary napkins to women during a week when they’re menstruating, didn’t give proper medical care or medications to inmates, prohibited inmates from showering and placed inmates in a cell with sewage backup.
Regarding the jail’s conditions, she called it “cruel and unusual punishment.”
“No human should be subjected to those conditions,” Baker said.
State law requires that county jails be inspected annually by the Indiana Department of Corrections’ county jail services division. The Tribune has received the most recent jail inspection report from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. The jail was last inspected on June 24 by Jeff Groh, the Indiana Department of Correction jail inspector for the state’s Southern Region.
The report was largely positive of the jail’s conditions. A comment from Groh called the jail a “Very well managed and maintained facility.”
Aside from criteria for which the jail was compliant, Groh report’s noted the jail does not have an assistant jail commander and the state fire marshal has yet to conduct the annual inspection. A request for that inspection was sent out June 14.
Groh also noted there is no mental health contract with Jackson County because Centerstone no longer provides services to the jail.
While the report says the jail was compliant in having sufficient jail personnel present in the jail to provide adequate 24 hour supervision of inmates, Groh wrote the sheriff absorbed some of the community corrections responsibilities in 2018 and as a result the jail is frequently short staffed.
No COVID-19 outbreaks happened in the jail in 2020 according to the report.
Chappell’s sister, Ronesha Murrell, said she wanted to know answers and get justice.
Baker said Chappell called her parents from jail shortly before her death and told her family, “If I can’t get out, I’m going to die here.”
The only information the family has received from the sheriff’s department is that her death was “chemically related.”
While that is allegedly the cause of her death, Baker said it doesn’t explain Chappell’s bruises or calls to her family.
When asked to expound on what that means, Baker said those were the exact words given to the family.
Steps have been taken by the legal team to make sure the surveillance footage from the jail is preserved, Baker said.
Leading up to Chappell’s death, Baker said the jail “basically did nothing for nearly 24 hours.”
Chappell’s father, Donte, spoke to the press, saying, “I just want to know what happened to my daughter. We all want to know. We want justice.”
He wore a shirt with the final photo of him with his daughter. Chappell said it was taken on Thanksgiving last year and called it “the best picture in the world.”
No update on Chappell’s death has been given to the legal team or family by the coroner’s office in Jackson County.
An independent medical examination has been launched by the legal team. Baker said she thinks that report will come out before the autopsy from the Indiana State Police.
No criminal charges have been filed surrounding Chappell’s death, Baker said.
She called the stage of investigation that the legal team is in the middle of as “fact-finding.”
Baker also said there have been allegations of “large issues of racism at the jail.”
She said Chappell was one of two Black women at the jail and called racial slurs by inmates. She also said staff didn’t intervene to stop any racist actions to the legal team’s knowledge.
As for any physical confrontations that Chappell experienced in jail, Murrell said she got into a fight where she was jumped and had a cut on her neck. She also said someone made a noose at the jail.
Natalia Wales, a close friend to Chappell, spoke to the press and called her adventurous and said it hurts to think about her death because she didn’t deserve it.
She said she had known her for six years but grew closer in the last three or four.
Asked if she had any theories as to what happened to Chappell, Baker said it’s too early to jump to theorize, and it would irresponsible for the legal team to say anything prior to the independent medical examination.
When asked if Baker felt any officers involved should be arrested or if Jackson County Sheriff Rick Meyer should be arrested or removed from office over Chappell’s death, she said, “If the actions and investigation uncover that they committed criminal acts, then yes, definitely. We’re always going to pursue criminal charges. If it’s that they were negligent, we’re going to get justice for Ta’Neasha.”