CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A mother says her son was left in a coma after an inmate in a local jail assaulted him.
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“He’s in an induced coma,” Starr Harrison told Channel 2′s Tom Jones about her son, Nijhm Harrison’s condition at Grady Hospital. She said he has a fractured skull fracture and other severe injuries.
This is after Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen says inmate Bradley Gaston attacked him in Harrison’s cell.
Nijhm Harrison’s mother says inmates had extorted them to keep her son safe. She wants to know why couldn’t the jail keep her son safe.
“That’s their legal obligation. Like why wasn’t he protected,” she asked.
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Jones took that question to Allen since he routinely gets calls about inmate assaults at the jail.
Allen gave Jones a tour of the jail to show him why there are so many assaults.
“Just showing you people are sleeping out on the floor because we are overcrowded,” Allen said, inside one of the jail’s pods.
Allen says the jail is overcrowded and he needs more staff. He says for every 100 inmates, only one officer is watching over them. He says they can barely hear while sitting in a tower.
“While you’re in here if they’re fighting in that cell there’s no way you know it,” Allen explained.
It’s why he wants the county to allow him to add about 70 corrections officers, and expand the jail. He says it’s truly a matter of life and death.
“It’s on a wing and a prayer that something bad doesn’t happen in here,” Allen noted.
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Starr Harrison says something has to be done.
“Just because they’re locked up doesn’t mean they’re bad people. They deserve to be protected. Just like the next citizen,” Starr Harrison said.
The sheriff says he routinely houses about 1,800 to 1,900 inmates a day in a 1,500-bed facility. Allen says the crowded conditions add to the tension and lead to fights.
Madam Chairwoman Dr. Alieka Anderson sent Jones the following statement concerning the budget as it relates to the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office:
“Since taking office in January the Sheriff has not brought me any issues regarding his approved budget. However, the Board of Commissioners considers budgetary requests from the Sheriff and all constitutional officers with an eye towards allowing them to carry out their constitutional duties while balancing the impact of budgetary requests on the general fund and citizens of Clayton County. We have just started our budgetary process and my highest priority for this administration is to not have to raise the taxes of the Citizens of Clayton County.”
The accused attacker faces charges in this incident.
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