A Georgia inmate died from heat exposure. Left with questions, his family is suing the state

The family of an incarcerated man who died in custody of the Georgia Department of Corrections is suing the agency over negligence.

Juan Carlos Ramirez Bibiano was 27 and allegedly died from heat exposure.

Ramirez was serving time at Middle Georgia’s Telfair State Prison when he died on July 20, 2023, from a heart attack, allegedly caused by heat exposure.

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His death was first documented publicly on a Facebook page. Many people with loved ones in prison rely on forums like social media for information about prison conditions.

According to the complaint filed in Telfair Superior Court, prison staff were warned by Warden Andrew McFarlane that morning about the heat and told not to leave inmates outside too long, or without water. Staff were also told to conduct frequent ice calls.

Only a quarter of Georgia prisons — there are 34 in the state — are fully air-conditioned as of 2022.

In this case, Ramirez was not inside but rather outside, left in what is commonly called outdoor recreation cages.

The complaint says that Ramirez attended a visit with a mental health care provider around 9:30 that morning and was placed outside about 30 minutes later.

The complaint suggests Ramirez was left in an outdoor cell five hours before receiving medical attention. By that point he was found naked and in dire physical condition. The heat index is said to have reached 105 degrees by that time.

Medical staff allegedly performed CPR but Ramirez later died at a local hospital.

Attorney for the family, Wingo Smith, said there’s a lot his team and the family have not been able to learn from the GDC.

“ We don’t know why he was there,” Smith said. “Why he didn’t have water or ice or shade, why he was out there as long as he was. All those questions remain unanswered.”

Smith said they hope the discovery process brings those answers to light.

“We’d need to get more information about what happened to fully flesh out what occurred,” Smith said.

GDC spokespeople Lori Benoit and Joan Heath said the agency does not comment on pending litigation and that Ramirez’s death is still under investigation pending a final autopsy report.

Missing information fuels speculation

At a press conference on Thursday to announce the lawsuit, Ramirez’s mother and one of the plaintiffs, Norma Bibiano, described her son as caring, friendly and intelligent.

“His death has affected me very much,” Bibiano said through translator and attorney Surinder K. Chadha Jimenez. “I always had hope that he would return home. … A piece of my heart is gone.”

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Bibiano said she had heard some complaints about prison conditions from her son prior to his death, noting one time that he told her he had been beaten up by other inmates, leaving him with an injured leg.

After her son’s death, Bibiano said she’s been left with more questions about what he may have experienced. The family allegedly have only received medical records and an incident report with limited information about the events leading up to Ramirez’s death.

Attorneys for the family said the possibilities range from “negligence to murder,” though the case at this point hinges on proving negligence under the Georgia State Torts Claim Act.

Attorney Jeff Filipovits said during the press conference that according to the GDC, Ramirez died of “natural causes.”

The GDC told Georgia Public Broadcasting earlier this year that it would stop reporting cause of death for inmates who die inside Georgia prisons.

This story comes to Rough Draft Atlanta through a reporting partnership with GPB News , a non-profit newsroom covering the state of Georgia.

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