CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A medical examiner's report is raising alarm about operations at the Clayton County Jail following an inmate's brutal beating death.
According to the death investigation report released Monday, an official with the medical examiner's office provided new details about the death of Carlos Zegarra-Arroyo.
Zegarra-Arroyo was found with a head injury in his cell on Nov. 19 in what Sheriff Levon Allen referred to as a "racially motivated" beating. Deputies said another inmate, Jaquez Jackson, "punched, kicked and slammed his cellmate's head on the toilet." According to the medical examiner's office, Zegarra-Arroyo's death was reported as a homicide.
"Inmate Jaquez Jackson stated several times he does not like Mexican/Hispanics and wanted to kill them," a news release from the sheriff said. In the report, officials clarified that the sheriff's office had the inmate's name spelled wrong and corrected his ethnicity as Peruvian.
Derek Rajavuori, the attorney representing the family of Zegarra-Arroyo, said his loved ones are devastated.
"His murder was yet another preventable result of the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the Clayton County Jail. We join Senator Ossoff in calling for a full investigation of this facility," the statement read in part. "We will work to uncover the full truth about Carlos’s death and ensure that those involved are held accountable."
Read Rajavuori's full statement at the bottom of this story.
Records show Zegarra-Arroyo was taken to Southern Regional Medical Center and suffered cardiac arrest, where a nurse cited the injury Zegarra-Arroyo "sustained was reported as being hit by a shoe." The official with the medical examiner's office noted there was no law enforcement presence around the inmate, which came across as odd, according to the report.
Notes within the death investigation report said the investigator from the medical examiner's office was the first one to notify the Georgia Bureau of Investigation about the case and said the sheriff's office had not called the agency. The GBI's Medical Examiner's Office was contacted due to the circumstances surrounding Zegarra-Arroyo's death, the investigative report noted.
Meanwhile, the official with the medical examiner's office was walked to where two detention officers were and found they could not answer questions, according to the report, including if whether the GBI would be contacted. A sergeant and investigator later arrived and took over the scene, with one guarding Zegarra-Arroyo and the other questioning the nurse, the report reads.
The medical examiner with the GBI arrived but said she "had not been called officially and was unsure of her role" until the sheriff's office officially called for her. She formally received the call while at the hospital, according to the report.
When the sheriff was finally reached days later, Allen said he was not able to assist with the investigation because he was out of town for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Zegarra-Arroyo's death is now under the jurisdiction of the GBI, as it happened while in sheriff's office custody.
According to court records, a judge set Zegarra-Arroyo's bond at $12,000 in December 2021 for theft by taking and baggage removal.
His attorney said that Zegarra-Arroyo was born in Lima, Peru, in 1979 and moved to the U.S. permanently in 1982 when he was 3 years old. He was described as a math whiz and family man who loved baseball, swimming and animals. Growing up, he spent time with several of his cousins every day and was close to his parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.
As for Jackson, deputies said he was originally in jail on a probation violation for original charges of simple battery, simple assault, criminal trespass, battery, terroristic threats and obstruction of an officer. Jackson is now accused of murder, malice murder, aggravated assault and starting a penal riot in the death of his cellmate.
“That is something that should have been accessed when the two were placed in a cell together," Rajavuori said. “This is a person. This person is unfortunately gone, and his family had to deal with that. Whatever we can do to make sure that doesn't happen again, I think is important as a society that values human dignity and liberty.”
Rajavuori also has concerns about whether Zegarra-Arroyo received proper care while in jail.
“Carlos was a schizophrenia patient, and it can be dangerous to house patients with conditions like schizophrenia in the general population," Rajavuori said.
Rajavuori is collecting information and may pursue a civil lawsuit.
In an earlier news release announcing Zegarra-Arroyo's death, the sheriff's office emphasized that it is overcrowded and that the $5 million previously approved by commissioners is not enough. Allen is requesting an additional $6.5 million to expand capacity and make more fixes.
Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen did not return multiple messages for comment, and Clayton County Commission Chair Jeffrey E. Turner said he wasn't available for an interview.
Below is the full statement from Rajavuori:
"Carlos’s family and friends are devastated. His murder was yet another preventable result of the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the Clayton County Jail. We join Senator Ossoff in calling for a full investigation of this facility.
We also intend to seek justice for Carlos and his family. The legal system failed them on multiple fronts. Like many of the people detained in Georgia’s jail system, Carlos was awaiting trial on non-violent charges at the time of his death. Because he was unable to pay his $12,000 bond, he was forced to sit in pretrial detention for nearly two years. He had not been convicted of a crime and was entitled to the presumption of innocence, a fundamental human right enshrined in both the United States and Georgia Constitutions.
The Constitution also imposes a duty upon jails and penal institutions to protect those in their custody from threats to their lives and safety, including violence from other detainees. Tragically, the system failed Carlos in this regard. Instead of receiving his day in court, he was murdered by his cellmate while in the custody of the Clayton County Jail.
We will work to uncover the full truth about Carlos’s death and ensure that those involved are held accountable. In the meantime, his loved ones respectfully ask for privacy as they learn to cope with the loss of their beloved son, grandson, cousin, and friend."