I Never Want Anyone Else to Go Through This’: Woman Speaks Out on Jail Assault and Neglect
Azellia Thompkins spent 24 days in the Scurry County Jail after a traffic stop on June 20, 2024, while on her way home from work with a co-worker. During that time, she said she attempted to take her own life and was physically assaulted by a detention officer. “He strikes me three times in my head and I fall to the ground,” Thompkins said. (KTXS, Kayla Hamlett)
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- Scurry County Jail
- Azellia Thompkins
- Mental health
- Jail assault
- Suicide attempt
- Texas Commission
- Jail standards
- Advocacy
Scurry County, Texas — A former Scurry County Jail inmate is speaking out about the trauma she says she endured behind bars, hoping to expose what she calls systemic failures in handling mental health crises.
Azellia Thompkins spent 24 days in the Scurry County Jail after a traffic stop on June 20, 2024, while on her way home from work with a co-worker. During that time, she said she attempted to take her own life and was physically assaulted by a detention officer. “He strikes me three times in my head and I fall to the ground,” Thompkins said. (KTXS, Kayla Hamlett)
Azellia Thompkins spent 24 days in the Scurry County Jail after a traffic stop on June 20, 2024, while on her way home from work with a co-worker. During that time, she said she attempted to take her own life and was physically assaulted by a detention officer. “He strikes me three times in my head and I fall to the ground,” Thompkins said.
Thompkins said the crisis began after she had a severe reaction to anxiety medication prescribed by the Mobile Crisis Outreach Team, which left her manic and led to her suicide attempt. (KTXS, Kayla Hamlett)
Thompkins said the crisis began after she had a severe reaction to anxiety medication prescribed by the Mobile Crisis Outreach Team, which left her manic and led to her suicide attempt.
According to records she later received, a detention officer allegedly responded during what she described as a fight for her life.
And this is not a direct quote from him, but he said he was eating breakfast in the control room when I tied the suicide smock around my neck. He could see it on the camera — meaning he was watching me. It took them about three minutes to respond. I had already turned purple. (KTXS, Kayla Hamlett)
“And this is not a direct quote from him, but he said he was eating breakfast in the control room when I tied the suicide smock around my neck. He could see it on the camera — meaning he was watching me. It took them about three minutes to respond. I had already turned purple. They removed the smock from my neck, but when he went after the other smock, that’s when the assault happened,” Thompkins said.
Thompkins said her biggest concern is how those tasked with assessing her mental health handled the crisis. “ (KTXS, Kayla Hamlett)
Thompkins said her biggest concern is how those tasked with assessing her mental health handled the crisis. “You know, if they’re tired of taking care of people with mental health in jails, where’s the contingency plan? Why are these crisis outreach workers not helping? Where’s the level of oversight for them?” she asked.
Following her release, Thompkins said she immediately sought justice. “When I got out, I hit the ground running,” she said. (KTXS, Kayla Hamlett)
Following her release, Thompkins said she immediately sought justice. “When I got out, I hit the ground running,” she said.
She requested jail records, surveillance video, and filed a formal complaint. On Aug. 7, 2025, she spoke directly to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards about the treatment she endured while in the Scurry County Jail.
On Aug. 7, 2025, she spoke directly to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards about the treatment she endured while in the Scurry County Jail. (Courtesy: Texas Jail Project)
Thompkins worked with the Texas Jail Project, which advocates for people in Texas county jails and their families, focusing on policies to reduce jail harm and improve public health.
Krish Gundu, co-founder and executive director, said cases like Thompkins’ happen far more often than the public realizes. (Courtesy: Texas Jail Project)
Krish Gundu, co-founder and executive director, said cases like Thompkins’ happen far more often than the public realizes. “So our work is to monitor, document conditions and advocate on behalf of individuals and their families. It’s sometimes hard to mitigate harm inside jails? Something that’s hard to believe, but we’re sometimes unable to make any difference because the jail standards are so minimum. No matter what kind of complaint you submit, the response will be, you know, we didn’t find any violation of minimum standards, which is what happened in Azellia’s case,” Gundu said.
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Gundu added that county jails in Texas have become the largest holding places for people with serious mental illness and the jails are unable to help those who are in their care. “The mental health provider did not believe her. And that is very common in jail settings. That mental health provider is the same provider she has outside jail. In the free world. It’s a shocking thing for me to hear. And this is not unique at all. The kind of treatment people get from doctors and mental health care providers in jails. The bias is so strong against people who are in jail,” Gundu said.
After persistent advocacy, Thompkins received a letter on June 2, 2025 from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards saying a crime may have been committed. (Courtesy: Azellia Thompkins)
After persistent advocacy, Thompkins received a letter on June 2, 2025 from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards saying a crime may have been committed. She said she was told the agency was not responsible for investigating assaults, as it only focuses on minimal jail standards.
We reached out to the Scurry County Jail and in a statement they said allegedly, “we cooperated with the Texas Rangers who reviewed the complaint and found no wrongdoing.”(KTXS, Scurry Co. Jail Statement)
We reached out to the Scurry County Jail and in a statement they said allegedly, “we cooperated with the Texas Rangers who reviewed the complaint and found no wrongdoing.”
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Azellia Thompkins shares how now that the incident is over, the only thing that got her through was her faith, “Yes I did find God in there, and I never want anyone else to go through what I went through inside Scurry County Jail, Thompkins said.”
Japan’s elderly are lonely and struggling. Some women choose to go to jail instead
By Jessie Yeung, Hanako Montgomery and Junko Ogura, CNN
5 min read
Published 8:20 PM EST, Sat January 18, 2025
The rooms are filled with elderly residents, their hands wrinkled and backs bent. They shuffle slowly down the corridors, some using walkers. Workers help them bathe, eat, walk and take their medication.
But this isn’t a nursing home – it’s Japan’s largest women’s prison. The population here reflects the aging society outside, and the pervasive problem of loneliness that guards say is so acute for some elderly prisoners that they’d prefer to stay incarcerated.
“There are even people who say they will pay 20,000 or 30,000 yen ($130-190) a month (if they can) live here forever,” said Takayoshi Shiranaga, an officer at Tochigi Women’s Prison located north of Tokyo, during an extremely rare visit granted to CNN in September.
Within the prison’s light pink walls and strangely serene halls, CNN met Akiyo, an 81-year-old inmate with short gray hair and hands dotted with age spots. She was serving time for shoplifting food.
“There are very good people in this prison,” said Akiyo, who CNN is identifying by a pseudonym for privacy. “Perhaps this life is the most stable for me.”
At Tochigi Women’s Prison, inmates are required to work in prison factories and workshops. CNN
The women in Tochigi live behind bars and must work in the prison’s factories, but that suits some just fine.
Inside they get regular meals, free healthcare and eldercare – along with the companionship they lack on the outside.
One inmate, Yoko, 51, has been imprisoned on drug charges five times over the last 25 years. Each time she returns, the prison population seems to get older, she said.
“(Some people) do bad things on purpose and get caught so that they can come to prison again, if they run out of money,” said Yoko, who CNN is identifying by a pseudonym for privacy reasons.
Struggling in isolation
Akiyo knows the burden of isolation and poverty too well. This is her second stint in prison, after being previously jailed in her 60s for stealing food.
“If I had been financially stable and had a comfortable lifestyle, I definitely wouldn’t have done it,” she said.
When she committed her second theft, Akiyo was living off a “very small” pension that was only paid every two months. With less than $40 left and two weeks until her next payment, “I made a poor decision and shoplifted, thinking it would be a minor issue,” she said. Her prior conviction meant that she was imprisoned.
With little family support, Akiyo had stopped caring about the future, or what would happen to her.
Her 43-year-old son, who lived with her before she was imprisoned, often told her: “I wish you’d just go away.”
The walls and fences of Tochigi Women’s Prison, located north of Tokyo. CNN
“I felt like I didn’t care what happened anymore,” she said. “I thought, ‘There’s no point in me living,’ and ‘I just want to die.’”
Theft is by far the most common crime committed by elderly inmates, especially among women. In 2022, more than 80% of elderly female inmates nationwide were in jail for stealing, according to government figures.
Some do it for survival – 20% of people aged over 65 in Japan live in poverty, according to the OECD, compared to an average of 14.2% across the organization’s 38 member countries. Others do it because they have so little left on the outside.
“There are people who come here because it’s cold, or because they’re hungry,” said Shiranaga, the prison guard.
Those who fall ill “can get free medical treatment while they are in prison, but once they leave, they have to pay for it themselves, so some people want to stay here as long as possible.”
Can Japan fill the gap?
CNN only passed through one security gate at Tochigi, where one in five inmates is elderly, and the prison has adjusted its services to account for their age.
Across Japan, the number of prisoners aged 65 or older nearly quadrupled from 2003 to 2022 – and it’s changed the nature of incarceration.
“Now we have to change their diapers, help them bathe, eat,” Shiranaga said. “At this point, it feels more like a nursing home than a prison full of convicted criminals.”
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Part of the problem for former inmates is a lack of support once they re-enter society, said Megumi, a prison guard at Tochigi, who CNN is identifying by her first name only for privacy.
“Even after they are released and return to normal life, they don’t have anybody to look after them,” she said. “There are also people who have been abandoned by their families after repeatedly committing crimes, they have no place to belong.”
Authorities have acknowledged the issue, with the welfare ministry saying in 2021 that elderly inmates who received support after leaving prison were far less likely to re-offend than those who didn’t. The ministry has since ramped up its early intervention efforts and community support centers to better support vulnerable elderly, it said.
The Ministry of Justice has also launched programs for female inmates that provide guidance on independent living, substance addiction recovery, and how to navigate family relationships.
The government is now considering proposals to make housing benefits accessible to more elders, with 10 municipalities across Japan already testing initiatives to support elderly people with no close relatives.
But it’s not clear whether that will be enough, in a country with one of the world’s longest lifespans and lowest birthrates.
Cells inside Tochigi Women’s Prison, where one in five inmates is elderly. CNN
The elderly population is ballooning so fast that Japan will require 2.72 million care workers by 2040, according to the government – which is now scrambling to encourage more people to enter the industry, and to import foreign workers to fill the gaps.
That’s evident in Tochigi, where officers “actively ask (inmates) with nursing qualifications to provide nursing care” for other elderly prisoners, Megumi said.
Yoko, the 51-year-old inmate, is one such caregiver, having gotten her qualifications during her last sentence. Now, when there aren’t enough prison staff caring for the elderly, she helps other inmates bathe, change their clothes and move around, she said.
All the while, prisons continue filling up with white-haired inmates.
Akiyo finished her sentence in October. Speaking to CNN a month before her release, she said she was full of shame and afraid to face her son. She planned to apologize and ask his forgiveness, but said, “I’m afraid of how he might perceive me.”
“Being alone is a very difficult thing, and I feel ashamed that I ended up in this situation,” she added. “I really feel that if I had a stronger will, I could have led a different life, but I’m too old to do anything about it now.”
