DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. -- Courthouse security didn't do its job. That's what Douglas County Sheriff Phil Miller said during a press conference Tuesday, after two teens were left in a holding cell over the weekend with no food or toilet paper.
Miller says the two teens were put in the courthouse holding cells around 1:30 Friday afternoon, after being transferred from the Marietta Youth Dentention Center for court hearings. They were discovered in the cells Monday morning.
Miller says they were left there with no supervision or food all weekend. "Thank God they were physically okay, just hungry," Miller said.
The Sheriff Department's Internal Affairs unit is conducting an investigation. but the Sheriff said deputies did not follow procedure.
"I'm as embarrassed as I could possibly be," Miller said. "The buck stops here, the fault lies here."
Miller said they are supposed to check the holding cells every hour and make sure all the doors are open and cells empty at the end of every day.
The sheriff said he will do everything in his power to correct the mistake and "do what's right", saying "we were wrong".
One of the teens was in court on a probation violation, the other on motor vehicle theft. Miller says one teen was scheduled to be released from the YDC on Sunday.
