A crowd of protesters gathers outside of the Luzerne County Correctional Facility on Sunday in support of Shaheen Mackey, an inmate who died in custody two years ago.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
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WILKES-BARRE — Dressed in red and loud enough for the whole city to hear, about a hundred protesters organized outside of the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in support of Shaheen Mackey and his family on Sunday.
Mackey died on June 6, 2018, after he was transported from the Luzerne County Correctional Facility, where he had been lodged for five hours on a warrant related to a PFA, to Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.
Chants of “no justice, no peace” and “Black Lives Matter” echoed through the crowd, aided by the use of some megaphones.
According to prior published reports, a lawsuit asserts Mackey was epileptic and suffering from a seizure when he wandered, disoriented, into the wrong cell during a prison lockdown. The prison did not properly document his medical issues, it said.
Mackey allegedly began acting delusional, which prompted correctional officers to restrain him, use stun guns on him, shackle him and administer Narcan, though later blood tests allegedly revealed Mackey was on no drugs at the time of his death, reports said.
A video of the final moments before Mackey’s hospitalization and death was published on social media last week.
The video, which showed how Mackey was restrained and covered with a spit mask by corrections officers, has been shared and reposted hundreds of times, including by prominent civil rights activist Shaun King. Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said on Wednesday that she stands by her office’s 2018 investigation, which uncovered no evidence of criminal intent, or intent to harm Mackey.
On Sunday evening, a large group of passionate individuals gathered outside of the correctional facility where Mackey was lodged.
After a round of chants aimed at the prison, the group marched across the street to the Luzerne County Courthouse. There, with a tent set up to protect speakers from the hot sun, a few members of Mackey’s family took to the microphone to address the crowd.
Mackey’s daughter, Tatiyanee Mackey, was the first to speak.
“We welcome everyone who wants to stand with us in our fight for justice,” Mackey said. “Shaheen Mackey didn’t harm anyone in custody.”
Rasheda Hammonds, Mackey’s sister, added a few words as well.
“We’ve been trying to tell Shaheen’s story for two years now,” Hammonds said. “It shouldn’t have taken this long, but here we are.”
The protest also featured a prayer dedicated to Mackey and to all victims of injustice, and an original song recorded by Mackey for his children was played for the crowd.
Sharee Clark from the NEPA Freedom Fighters, a familiar voice and presence to anyone who’s attended Black Lives Matter protests in Wilkes-Barre, highlighted Mackey’s case not as an outlier, but as one in a line of systemic injustices that have now extended into Luzerne County.
“Everyone thinks that this is a big city problem, that this is a New York problem,” Clark said. “This is right here in our own backyard. … When I saw the video, I was sick to my stomach.”