Mentally Ill Inmate Denied Drinking Water for 2 Weeks and Medicine for 2 Months

Inmate's treatment probed by FBI:
Mentally Ill Inmate Denied Drinking Water for Two Weeks  and Medication for Two Months

The FBI has started an investigation in the case of a mentally ill Dallas County jail inmate who nearly died after he was cut off from drinking water for nearly two weeks and denied psychiatric medication for almost two months. James Monroe Mims, 53, was taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital on April 9 after jail trustees found him incoherent on the floor of his cell. Mims spent three months in Parkland, including a month in intensive care, before pulling through, family members said.The Dallas County Sheriff's Department never began a criminal investigation, despite the July 13th internal report's findings.  "I'm wondering why it took five months to do this," said Mims' attorney David Finn in Tuesday's editions of The Dallas Morning News. "You'd think somebody would be asking questions how this happened." Mims has returned to the state hospital in Terrell. He was charged in 1978 with attempted murder in the shooting of two Dallas police officers during a domestic standoff. He was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial. [more ] and [more ] and [more ]
  • Mentally ill man's ordeal spurs outcry to improve care at jail [more ]
  • Family: Inmate nearly died at Dallas Co. jail [more ]