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A man has starved to death in an Arkansas jail after he resorted to eating his own feces because he was unable to pay his $100 bail and officials took away his medication.
Larry Eugene Price Jr., 51, passed away at the Sebastian County Detention Center in August 2021. He had been detained there for just over a year while he awaited trial on a felony charge of making terroristic threats.
The lawsuit claims that Price, who had a history of severe mental illness including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, was kept in solitary confinement at the county facility.
In the suit against Sebastian County, it was claimed that Price had been neglected over the course of a year as he consumed less meals and beverages and lost weight, going from 185 pounds to 90 pounds.
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According to the lawsuit, jail staff allegedly stopped giving Price his prescribed mental health meds when he refused to take them and failed to contact him again to discuss his mental health needs.
According to the lawsuit, Price entered the Fort Smith Police Department in August 2020 and intimidated officers while pointing his finger as if he were pulling a fictitious trigger. Price was then taken into custody. Price, who also had a developmental handicap, was homeless and did not have weapon at the time of his arrest.
He was discovered in a pool of standing water in his cell, naked, with his eyes wide open and dried saliva on his mouth. According to Newsweek, he apparently started drinking his own pee and eating his own feces before this death.
According to Newsweek, Price and his cell were still listed by the jail as being "okay" even after he passed away.
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