Medical worker to plead guilty in connection with inmate's death

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A nurse who worked at an Alabama jail is the sixth person to agree to plead guilty in connection with the death of a mentally ill man who died of hypothermia after being held naked in a concrete cell.

Daniel Wyers agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of deprivation of civil rights under color of law, court records show. Federal prosecutors wrote in the plea agreement that Wyers failed to provide care to Tony Mitchell because he thought the man was unworthy and because he “feared job ramifications if he offered care against the perceived prevailing culture at the jail.”

Wyers worked for a medical contractor that provided services at the Walker County jail and worked two shifts while the man was at the jail, prosecutors said. Five jail employees also agreed to plead guilty.

An attorney for Wyers declined to comment.

Mitchell, 33, died Jan. 26, 2023, after being taken from the Walker County jail to a hospital emergency room. His death certificate listed his cause of death as hypothermia and sepsis from medical neglect.

Mitchell was arrested Jan. 12 after a relative asked for a welfare check on him. The sheriff's office said at the time that Mitchell was talking about portals to hell and asserted that he had fired a weapon at officers. When he arrived at the jail, Mitchell was disoriented, had trouble standing and walking, and his face was painted blue, prosecutors wrote in the plea agreement.

Mitchell was held in a concrete cell sometimes referred to as the jail’s drunk tank. The cell "was notoriously cold during winter months and the temperature on the bare cement floor was even colder,” according to the plea agreement.

Wyers failed to do a mental health evaluation on Mitchell that had been requested by the jail’s nurse practitioner and took no steps to address that Mitchell was left “naked in the cold cell without bedding,” according to the plea agreement.