Lamont Jones
Appearances
Death County, PA
Introducing: Death County, PA
The rats are the size of a book bag. There's cockroaches two inches, three inches long in that joint. And I can tell you what, when he was walking me down the steps to that basement, I was walking into a torture chamber.
Death County, PA
Introducing: Death County, PA
You couldn't tell someone that's done time there that these things weren't happening. This is serious. This is family. And I want to know what happened. So many people are passing away here.
Death County, PA
Introducing: Death County, PA
When we confront you, the first thing you do is deny. I'm like, either you're naive or you're just a part of covering this up. Shame on every single person responsible for the death of so many people inside of this building.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
So I go and I see the pictures at my cousin Carmen's, which is Tyreek's mother. There's a few family members that came and gathered on the porch outside. And I was pulled to the side and they let me see them. And I was like, wow.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
I was like, the body doesn't do this. You can see where the marks are on the back of his legs, the tightening of the handcuffs around the wrist. You know, you have beat marks all up and down the back. This is not from a fall. And I'm not a doctor. You don't need to be. This is bruising. This is like physical bruising.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
I kept saying, man, they beat him. They killed him. That's all I kept saying.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
We just kept asking, you know, where's the reports? Where's the reports? And of course, it do take time for toxicology and stuff like that. But for this one, I was like, we done buried him already. If we did want to get a second opinion, that means we would have to exhume. So all of this, that's what was making my suspicions roll even more. I'm like, this is taking way too long.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
I'm going to start this press conference first by talking about the interest in this case.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
And they're speculating the Lord. I'm astounded by some of the speculation.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
Not speculation, but facts. What has been tested by a thing called hypothesis.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
I want you to remember one thing. Notice that each one of these terms has itis, or pieces like that, on the end. In medical terms, that means inflammation.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
When he was revealing all the things, it took us so long. I was like, well, man, just tell us what the hell happened and how he passed.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
It's not well described. You have to understand. Medical records are not really all that reliable in exactly describing any damage.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
There was nothing to indicate the type of bruising that would be from punching or kicking.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
And that could very well be, but I'm telling you, this death was not caused by any trauma.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
He was telling us things like, you know, Tyreek was going to die anyway because his blood was doing this, that, and the third. And that's where I had an issue. It bothered me. And I looked around and was like, nobody's seeing this happening in real time.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
That's a job requirement. We take care of the evidence on or about the body. And that's what we did with this case.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
Why is all of these cameras here? Why do we have to wait so long? I mean, he had a PowerPoint presentation, man. Come on.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
And it seems like it was there to misguide you, to take away any notion that there were any wrongdoing on the prison officials or the prison guards that were there.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
If you can mark that this was a natural cause, but it really was a homicide, you've changed every potential lawsuit. I mean, you've changed a lot of things.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
This is serious. This is family, and I want to know what happened.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
I knew I was going to die in there. I could feel it. And I was like, you got to get me out of here.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
That was like, all right, you know, I'm doing something, man. I'm really making a difference, you know, so that felt good. But then it also made me continuously look at the system
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
And I want to be that beacon of light for other people, you know, that people can feel, that's magnetic, that is transferable, that they can see, okay, this guy's different.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
Now not only did I lose a little cousin, now I have a family that's mourning.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
And then, you know, being in a position and the things that I was doing, they were looking to me for answers.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
I had to be honest with them, like, listen, you know, I don't think they're going to give me much.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
I was like, listen, this is serious. This is family. This is blood. And I want to know what happened. Lamont's contact seemed concerned. He told Lamont he'd find out what he could. You know, I'm going to go review the tapes. I promise you, I'm going to review the tapes. If there's any foul play, I'm going to let you know.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
He called and he told me that the cameras you couldn't see inside of the cell. But there was a struggle.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
That's when my wheels started turning. I was like, okay, they're not going to give me the information that I need.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
That's a whole different guy. That is someone that is feisty, a fighter. When I went to prison, I went to a maximum security prison. I was 18 years old, probably 115 pounds soaking wet around grown men. I mean, I had to grow up quick in this atmosphere. You had to survive. So I had to learn who people were and what they were about.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
I need him because if I don't, you'll run over top of me if I don't utilize him. When people think they're going to put pressure on me, nah, that's when you see the other guy.
Death County, PA
Natural Causes | 1
He's still professional, but he's a lot tougher than Lamont. Lamont is like, hey, you know, let's have some peace. But this guy, he's never going to allow you to back him into a corner. You understand what I'm saying? Good guy, too. But I know what I had to survive with out on the streets, and I need those skills to deal with this new world that I'm in.
Death County, PA
Lights Out | 5
I would tell people in the prison, I was like, hey, man, I think I got somebody now that'll have their ear in changing the conditions of this prison.
Death County, PA
Lights Out | 5
The amount of time that he spends there let them know that they can trust him. It gave them a sense of, okay, this guy is consistent. He's showing up.
Death County, PA
Lights Out | 5
And a lot of them were very upset that they were being forced to do overtime. And they had families too. They were working very extensive hours. It was like the correctional officers were prisoners at that moment. They wanted to go home, but you can't. You've got to stay here, you know. And you have to be in these same conditions as everyone else is in.
Death County, PA
Lights Out | 5
I was being told that some people were passing out because of the heat. They were yelling for people to help and nobody believed that. So they just start, the way that they can get them to get on the block is to flood the toilets.
Death County, PA
Lights Out | 5
He was very agitated that some of the leadership wasn't around. They weren't on deck. And the amount of time that he had to be there. And to me, that just showed a level of commitment to make sure that this gets remedied.
Death County, PA
Lights Out | 5
I think we were fighting for the same thing at that moment, and he was showing support by showing up at my events, and we became more comfortable with each other through conversation.
Death County, PA
Lights Out | 5
So I left that meeting in the middle of it when I seen that he had pulled it off and I came out and I called him. He wasn't answering a lot of phone calls, but he took mine.
Death County, PA
Lights Out | 5
I was like, man, dude, you just made history. I just made history, right? We both made a vow to each other that we would continue this fight on this side of the spectrum. We would go and stir it up. We would go stir it up and make sure that we're holding people accountable.
Death County, PA
Lights Out | 5
He told me that I wasn't eligible to serve. And I said, show me where it says that I can't. Article 2, Section 7, Pennsylvania Election Code, where anyone with a conviction or infamous crime cannot hold public office, right? So I said, what the election code doesn't say is that I couldn't run, right?
Death County, PA
Lights Out | 5
I had a support letter for the pardon from the district attorney. So it encouraged me.
Death County, PA
Lights Out | 5
You get in front of the board of pardons and you have to, you know, see what they're going to do.
Death County, PA
One Billboard Outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania | 4
They say you catch more bees with honey. I used a lot of vinegar in the beginning, you know, because I was angry. And I had to reset myself and say, look, you have a purpose. You got a job to do.
Death County, PA
One Billboard Outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania | 4
You know, when they first started it, it was like a deterrent. So if you come back to prison, you get charged $5 a day for your stay there. And it goes all the way, each time you come back at that recidivism rate, it goes all the way up to $45 a day that you have to pay to be incarcerated.
Death County, PA
One Billboard Outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania | 4
So just imagine if I'm at $25 a day for 23 months, what that bill is going to look like. This is a rock I can't carry when I get out. And now I may have child support. Now I got court calls. Now I got to pay the probation people. So you can see this is pushing you further and further into a hole. And most people, you're going to have a mindset of, man, I got to get this done.
Death County, PA
One Billboard Outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania | 4
So they're going to go right back to the same activity that they were doing, trying to alleviate some of the pressure from these financial obligations, which ends up getting them deeper in trouble.
Death County, PA
One Billboard Outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania | 4
I woke up and said, I'm going to do this. I'm going to go down here. I'm going to get this application for the vacancy and filled the application out, submitted it.
Death County, PA
One Billboard Outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania | 4
I wanted to inspire other people that, you know, they say it's never too late to change. But they need to see that.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
Somebody could be banging on the door. Hey, man, shut up. Be quiet. He could be having a medical crisis right now.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
And he was back there. And I was like, what the... It was Jamal.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
I'd seen the condition that he was in, you know, and I knew something was wrong. The hair wasn't being taken care of. The weight was down. You could just see, like, you know, it just wasn't him.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
It was always a joy just to see him and talk with him. And he would always bring up something different. Remember this? You know, remember, I'm like, wow, man, this guy is a walking almanac. He never forgot anything. You know, on for on, he could remember everything.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
You couldn't tell someone that's done time there that these things weren't happening. It was purposely for me to be there. Everybody else didn't have that experience. I came in with plenty of vigor. I wanted answers, you know, and I wanted the conditions to change.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
It was just a total reaction, like, oh my goodness, what in the world? Now maybe three or four people may have passed in a short period of time. So I'm like, what is going on in this prison, you know, that so many people are passing away here?
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
So what really helped is the reporting, the investigative reporting that you were doing. I was just sharing every article and I was like, look, this is much deeper because we couldn't find out some of the things that you couldn't.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
What happened? What happened? Well, we can't really say. Well, the paper seems to know more than you guys, or you guys aren't willing to tell, you know. So how did he get the hypothermia? And of course, they couldn't go into it, or they wouldn't go into it.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
You're the warden, you're the commissioner over the prison. I want to know, why aren't things changing? You guys have power to make some of these changes. What are you doing to correct this? When we confront you, the first thing you do is deny, you know. And again, I'm like, either you're naive or you're just a part of covering this up.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
We would take like newspaper, wet the newspaper, and seal around the windows to try to keep it warm inside.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
In our professions, right, you're going to have to become a human being or become a parent or a father or, you know, or whatever. So that's the space that I'm looking at that, hey, I'm Lamont from the advisory board. Even if I wasn't in this space, I would still want to know what happened to him. So that was natural.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
A somber feeling, man, because this is someone that I knew, and it's almost that feeling, like, this is where it happened, you know? And that's one of the greatest fears that I've ever had myself, is dying in prison, alone.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
And where does he end up? Dauphin County Prison. Why is he in prison? That's where I say there's a difference between treatment and punishment. You stick him in a place that doesn't have the adequate resources... handle that level of illness.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
And you have a regular guard back there watching those individuals. I'm like, okay. I get that these people are being housed here and they may have pending charges against them. However, they have conditions where, you know, they're taking strong medication and things of that nature. What would this officer do if something goes wrong?
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
Is this correctional officer equipped to handle what's happening back there on that medical block, the mental health block? So it raises a lot of questions, again, that you have to look at the system.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
That's not him trying to run over people or stuff like that. This had to be a time where he wasn't on his medication.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
You had some good officers, and then you had some of the ones that were just horrible. And there was a culture there. If you did something on one shift, the next shift could come in, and it could get physical quick. When I got disrespectful to a guard, they would come in with man beaters.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
Those are the gloves, the black gloves they would put on and take us in the gym, and it would get real physical there. They would put hands on us, basically.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
Lamont said, hey, you know, he has mental health issues. He may not be on his medication, so just make sure that the prison is aware of that.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
Just a fun guy, man. I mean, middle school, we was into dancing. We're just about as old as hip-hop, right? So when the break dancing and the graffiti first came out, you know, this was the stuff that we did. We had basement parties. We would dance. I mean, it was just a fun time.
Death County, PA
Hell Froze Over | 3
So I could travel the blocks and go around and cut hair. And one time I came on the medical block.
Late Nights with Nexpo
The London Vampire Panic
Lamont Jones is shattered when his cousin dies just weeks after entering prison. The official report says natural causes, but bruises and missing teeth tell a different story. Wondery presents Death County PA, a chilling true story of corruption and cover-ups. Follow Death County PA on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Late Nights with Nexpo
The London Vampire Panic
Lamont Jones' world is shattered when his cousin dies in custody just weeks after entering prison. The official report says natural causes, but bruises and missing teeth tell a different story. From Wondery comes Death County, PA, a chilling true story of corruption and cover-ups that begins as one man's search for answers, but soon reveals a disturbing pattern.
Late Nights with Nexpo
The London Vampire Panic
Lamont's cousin's death is just one of many, and powerful forces are working to keep the truth buried. With never-before-heard interviews and shocking revelations, Death County PA pulls back the curtain on one of America's darkest institutional secrets. This isn't just another true crime story. It's happening right now. Follow Death County PA on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Late Nights with Nexpo
The London Vampire Panic
You can binge all episodes of Death County PA early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus.
Late Nights with Nexpo
The London Vampire Panic
I just want people to go back to who the victim is in this. It's not her.