Probe continues into freezing death of Alabama jail prisoner
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
In Walker County, Alabama, several jailers are facing federal charges after the death of Tony Mitchell, who was held for nearly two weeks in a concrete cell known as The Freezer at the Walker County Jail. The medical examiner says he froze to death. Meanwhile, Sheriff Nick Smith denies any wrongdoing and is seeking re-election.
What happened to Tony Mitchell inside cell BK5?
What happened to Tony Mitchell inside cell BK5? Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Monday, March 9th, 2026. Joining me to discuss why jailers in Walker County are facing civil rights charges are USA Today national extremism reporter Will Carlos and USA Today investigative reporter Gina Barton, who investigated Mitchell's death and the jail. Gina and Will, thank you so much for joining me. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. Well, I mentioned the cement cell where Mitchell froze to death. BK5, also known as the freezer, described this cell for me and what the conditions were like during the 14 days that led up to his death. Yeah, so I visited Walker County back in December, around about the same time as this incident, this horrendous incident took place.
And it was chilly. It was very cold. And really, the cell is just sort of through one doorway from the Sally Court, where they bring people in, in handcuffs, people who need to be incarcerated. And it's just a bare room. It Picture a cube of concrete. That's essentially what it is. Now, it's no longer used as a cell. It's now used for storage and the door is propped open. But of course, it was very different three years ago when Tony Mitchell died there. And what can you tell me about the man who ran and is still running the jail where Tony Mitchell was being held, Sheriff Nick Smith? So this is really just an extraordinary story of a sheriff that can just hang on. I mean, this man has seen so many members of his department charged with serious federal civil rights charges, a
big, sprawling DOJ investigation into the way that he ran his jail. And he's still there. He hasn't been charged. He hasn't stepped down. He's running for reelection this spring and widely expected to probably win if he isn't charged in the meantime. But the kind of gist of this story is about how difficult it is to remove a sitting sheriff, even when really grotesque and unimaginable things happen under their watch. Well, Jean, as Will said, Sheriff Smith hasn't been charged for Mitchell's death. Could there still be charges brought against him? So far, has he been punished in any way? The federal case is proceeding the way a lot of federal cases do, where they tend to charge the underlings and then get them to flip and provide information or testify against the higher-ups.
So that seems to be proceeding toward possibly an indictment of Sheriff Smith, although you never know for sure. And in these types of cases, the supervisor of the people who... violated Tony Mitchell's civil rights, supervisors can be charged for things like failure to intervene if they knew what was happening, could have stopped it, and failed to stop it. And Sheriff Smith says he didn't know. So the big question is, will the federal prosecutors be able to prove he knew what was happening just downstairs from his office in that jail? Now, locally, the district attorney has charged Sheriff Smith with several misdemeanors for hiring unqualified people, not the people who were involved in Tony Mitchell's death, but other people, some of them school resource officers.
So he's fighting those misdemeanor charges. But in Alabama, a misdemeanor cannot get you removed as a sheriff. And then also the state board has voted to decertify him as a police officer, as a law enforcement officer in Alabama. But again, they tell me that in that state, you don't need certification in order to serve as a sheriff. So it certainly appears that the only thing that could drive him from office would be losing the election or being convicted of a felony. Gina, Mitchell's death isn't the only incident of neglect and violence levied against Walker County Jail.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:03–0:25
2
What happened to Tony Mitchell inside cell BK5?
0:25–6:05
3
What conditions did Tony Mitchell endure in the Walker County Jail?
6:05–10:21
4
Who is Sheriff Nick Smith and what controversies surround him?
10:21–14:25
5
Could Sheriff Smith face charges for Tony Mitchell's death?
14:25–16:13