PHILADELPHIA — A mentally ill woman jailed on shoplifting charges died after six weeks without needed thyroid medication, despite her family's attempts to intervene, relatives charged in a federal lawsuit.

Cassandra "Sandy" Morgan, 38, of Aston, died in a hospital on March 29, 2006, four days after she lapsed into a coma. She suffered from hypothyroidism schizophrenia, according to the suit.

Morgan had been held in the privately run Delaware County prison after being charged with shoplifting at a Wal-Mart in Upper Chichester.

The family said its calls to both the prison and public defender were ignored.

By The Associated Press