GLENNVILLE, Ga. — A one-minute video recording of a Georgia inmate being beaten and stabbed was captured inside the Smith State Prison was shared this week on social media.
It was just after midnight on Tuesday, Antonette Castleberry said she got a message on Facebook – regarding her brother, who is serving time at Smith State.
"I received a message in my inbox through Facebook from an old friend from school asking me, 'Have I heard from my brother? And I'm like, 'What's going on?' And they said, 'There is a video going around on social media, on Facebook, that my brother has been attacked and it doesn't look good,'" explained Antonette Castleberry.
Antonette said it was a little later on Tuesday, the video was sent to her and she saw the beating for herself.
"Nobody deserves to be treated like that. Yes, he has done wrong. He's not... an angel, but he's not a monster either," Antonette said.
In the one-minute, 18-second video you can see Antonette's brother, Troy Castleberry, sitting on the ground, next to a bunk in shorts– with no shirt on and his hands bound behind him. Troy appears to be disoriented and already hurt when the recording starts inside the cell.
During the video, you see Troy, punched, kicked and slapped in the face, throat and chest. You can see four inmates in the cell at the time of the attack. Three inmates surrounded Troy while a fourth inmate recorded the video.
During the video, the person recording the entire attack also takes part and splits open Troy's chin. After the beating stops, at about one minute into the video, the last 12 seconds show Troy being stabbed by an inmate with a shank. The first four stab wounds are to his shoulder and upper arm. You then see the inmates roll him over on the floor, onto his stomach and he's stabbed seven more times in his back. The video cuts off as you can see the inmate continuing to stab Troy.
"My son could have lost his life," explained Dorene Castleberry, Troy's mother.
Troy's brother Tyrone Bell said he's still not watched the video but he was getting condolence texts after people saw the video.
"Someone actually said, 'I'm sorry you lost your brother.' My brother is not dead. But that video will lead you to believe," Bell explained.
He said, from how the video was described to him, he feels as if this was a "modern-day lynching."
As for how Troy is doing, the family said the prison hasn't given them any details on if he was given medical attention and has refused to let them see him as of Friday night.
"We still haven't been able to see him physically to know that he's okay," Dorene explained.
11Alive reached out to the Georgia Department of Corrections about this video and attack and received the following statement:
"We are currently investigating the incident and the offenders involved."
Troy's family said they understand he's serving time for his crime, but he wasn't sentenced to death and they feel if he's not moved out of Smith State Prison, he may be killed.
"We've been pushing just to get them relocated somewhere safer where we don't have to worry and fear about him losing his life," explained Jermald Castleberry, who is Troy's brother.
Not only are they worried about Troy's well-being, but his mother said if this is happening to her son, then it's likely happening to other inmates inside this facility.
"That place is not fit for anyone to be incarcerated inside the walls," Dorene said.
She said Troy just transferred to this facility within the last week. He's serving an 18-year sentence for an armed robbery in Dekalb County in 2014.
Dorene said something needs to be done about what's happening inside this prison.
"It's a telephone book full of issues," she said.
As for the Smith State Prison, it's been in the headlines recently when the warden Brian Adams was arrested by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on corruption charges.