My name is Monique Monge, and a few years ago, I made the decision to place my son Al’Mir, in the custody of the Georgia DFACS. I did this in an attempt to provide him with the supportive services he needed as a teenager seeking to manage the multiplicity of symptoms associated with autism, bi-polar disorder, some form of schizophrenia disorder, and is also an insulin-dependent Type-1 Diabetic.. It was my hope, as a devoted and loving mother, that by making this difficult decision, I would save my son’s life. 

We were aware that Al’Mir had been arrested on September 1, 2018 at the Clayton County group home where he was being housed while receiving therapy and psychiatric care. He was arrested after an altercation with other youth and a staff member at the group home. He was charged with making terroristic threats… it turns out that the terroristic threat he made was actually a line that he quoted from a movie in which Jamie Foxx portrays a gentleman named Nathaniel Ayres who has mental health issues. In the movie Nathaniel makes the statement to someone who touched him that, “ if you touch me again, I will cut you open and gut you like a fish!“ Somehow, the arresting officer recorded my sons surname in their system with his last name and my last name altogether as if they were one name! Inside of all of this confusion Al’Mir remained in Clayton County Jail from September 1, 2018 until September 12, 2018!

That evening I learned that my 17-year-old son had been found unresponsive on the floor of a Clayton County jail cell.  Al’Mir had been detained for two weeks at that jail. During that time, law-enforcement officers and other Clayton County Jail staff who were apparently highly unqualified to assess the mental health or medical condition of my son and in turn, deprived his body of the insulin it needed to survive. He called home every chance he got. Every time I spoke to him he would tell me that they were not giving him any insulin! Every time I called the jail and asked about my son using his first and last name, they would tell me that they did not have my son at that jail, that he had not been brought there! At one point I realized it was very possible that Al’Mir had given them my last name as his last name. So, I also called and asked for him by that name and I was still told that he was not in Clayton County Jail! For 12 days he was lost inside the jail, my child shook uncontrollably, suffered dizzy spells, dropped beads of sweat, felt the thuds of a racing pulse, and no one ---came to his aid. 

It was not until he lost consciousness that officers on duty at the Clayton County Jail transported him to Southern Regional hospital. From there, he was airlifted to Children’s Hospital of Atlanta, in a state of Diabetic keto acidosis. 

When my husband and I arrived to the hospital we were escorted to a family conference room where we were eventually met by a social worker and the Doctor Who was in charge of his care. We were informed that he was in the intensive care, that he had suffered some brain damage and that he was in a diabetic coma!

We certainly could not understand how on earth this could happen but we definitely were in  search of an answer!

Well, I believe the answer lies in the egregious actions of the Clayton County law enforcement officers at the Clayton County Jail. There, men and women governed by Sheriff Victor Hills office and entrusted with the job of maintaining public safety and enforcing the law, consciously violated the civil and human rights of an 17-year-old child, when they chose to ignore symptoms of illness occurring and his constant cries for help behind the steel bars of a cell.    

For this-- I intend to hold them all accountable. In the meantime we must convince our elected officials to pass some legislation which will prevent our youth who have IEP‘s & 504 plans from being arrested, charged with multiple Felonies and thrown in Jail for things that they don’t even understand they are doing!