Family members of people incarcerated at the Clayton County Jail say the conditions are so dangerous they worry their loved ones will not make it out alive.
Rachell Johnson, whose son Jonathan was hospitalized after a violent attack inside the jail, struggled to keep her composure in an interview with FOX 5.
“I’m okay,” she said, pausing. “Okay, I’m not okay. People tried to kill my son.”
Johnson says last month, two inmates stabbed her son ten times, struck him in the head, and sliced off two of his fingers, which doctors reattached.
A jail captain acknowledged in a video she captured that the attackers accessed Jonathan’s cell after a guard pressed the wrong button.
“I’m telling you it was an honest mistake,” the captain says in the video. “Tower officer misunderstood and opened the wrong cell.”
Chanda Dew says her fiancé was also attacked by two inmates she described as “blood gang related,” adding that one of them had a shank.
A documentary released by YouTuber “Tommy G” shows inmates with homemade weapons and bragging about stabbing people.
It also shows unsanitary conditions inside the jail, including feces, urine, and water issues.
Johnson says her son was stabbed and hospitalized at Grady. The documentary capturing the conditions was released recently by Tommy G. Late last month, the ACLU of Georgia told Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen that the jail is “dangerous and unconstitutional.”
The ACLU of Georgia pointed out that most people held in the jail have been accused of—but not convicted of—a crime.
Penny Plotner, whose boyfriend is incarcerated there, described “body lice, bed bugs,” and times when “they don’t have water at all.”
She said it sometimes rains inside the cell, leaving his sheets and bed soaked. Plotner said watching the documentary made her feel helpless and said, “when you watch the documentary, it becomes real. Like, I know he’s in there and I can’t do anything about it.”
Dew and Plotner both expressed concern about inmates being subjected to unsafe and unsanitary conditions, with Plotner noting that many people inside are there for misdemeanors or probation violations.
The documentary shows Sheriff Levon Allen placing responsibility for the jail’s condition on county commissioners because they control the budget. The sheriff did not respond to requests for comment.
