JONESBORO, Ga. — Sleeping on feces and urine-filled floors, living without heat, and witnessing violence --- those are some of the allegations surfacing about the Clayton County Jail. The girlfriend of a current inmate reached out to 11Alive with concerns about his safety.
The inmate's girlfriend sent 11Alive a recording of him behind bars and gave permission to use it. We did disguise his voice because she's concerned about retaliation.
“I just need somebody to hear me out. We need help here in the Clayton County Detention Center," the inmate said on the recording.
The outside of the Clayton County Jail looks normal, but the current inmate said what goes on inside is not.
“I’m in a pod with murderers, rapists, killers, inmates with really heavy, deadly charges. No doors locked. I repeat, no doors locked. There have been four to five stabbings, one of which I witnessed myself. The inmate was leaking from head to toe, drenched in blood, with blood all over the floor," the inmate said.
The inmate, who's booked on marijuana charges, said he doesn't feel safe inside the jail.
“I’m in here with a light charge, and they’re housing me with mental health people. It’s been freezing cold with inmates walking around with blankets covering their bodies," the inmate said. "They found an inmate dead in the trash can right before I got booked in.”
The man claims the water to take a shower is always cold, and they get one bottle of water a day.
“This jail is overpopulated, and I’ve been sleeping on the floor since I been here. The COs [correctional officers] are playing with the tasers threatening to shoot the inmates," the inmate said.
The inmate said he's also worried about his health and that he'll get seriously ill.
“It flooded out for a whole night and a half. They didn’t move us at all," he said, adding that the inmates had to clean up the dirty water from the flood.
11Alive reached out to the Clayton County Sheriff's Office numerous times over the past four days, but they never returned any of our messages for comment.