Johnny Alfred Thompson
Photograph of Johnny Thompson, courtesy of Watson Funeral Home.
On August 10th, 2020, we lost the presence of a man who was known to his loved ones as “the best person in the world.” Johnny Alfred Thompson passed away at the age of 69, his life cut short by what was possibly a case of COVID-19.
Johnny—or Papa, as his grandchildren called him—was a loving and devoted family man. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio and met his wife LaTanya on a blind date in 1986; they married the following year and remained together for the rest of his life. He was known in the community for his “calm demeanor” and “willingness to help in any way he could,” whether that be by helping customers at his dry cleaning business or driving the church van on Sundays for his local parish. On summer afternoons, he would take his grandchildren on trips to the corner store and turn the back of his pick-up truck into a swimming pool so they would be able to stay cool in the summer heat.
At the Chillicothe Correctional Institution in Ross County, Ohio, where Johnny remained for the last seven years of his life, there have been at least eleven other deaths since March. Kenneth Alexander, who knew Johnny at Chillicothe, wrote in a letter that many of these individuals had contracted COVID-19, but the corrections officers wouldn’t “keep it real.” He said that the officers attributed the deaths to pre-existing conditions like heart problems, but they didn’t acknowledge the poor conditions of the facility such as food and air quality that may have contributed to COVID-19-related deaths because “the prisons don’t want to lose control over the prisoners.”
We mourn the passing of Johnny and the other individuals who have lost their lives at Chillicothe, and we stand in solidarity with those whose lives remain at risk there. May Johnny’s memory be a blessing and a reminder that we can—and must—do better for our brothers and sisters behind bars.
Photograph of Johnny Thompson, courtesy of Watson Funeral Home.
This memorial was written by MOL team member Mirilla Zhu with information from an obituary by Watson Funeral Home and a letter from Kenneth Alexander.
