BARROW COUNTY, Ga. — A couple of Barrow County inmates said they still can't believe a jailer allegedly laced their breakfast with pepper spray.
Kantravious Johnson and Tarrance Jennings reached out to 11Alive on Thursday, a week after Barrow County jailer Lolita Lightner was arrested.
Lightner was booked into the same jail she worked in since 2018.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the Barrow County Sheriff's Office requested its agency to investigate an incident involving Lightner on July 21.
Jennings said the night before, on July 20, Lightner seemed annoyed at several of the inmates, including himself and Johnson.
"That night, she said she smelled smoke, but I don’t know how she smelled smoke because we wasn’t smoking," Jennings said.
Johnson recalled, "She was like, 'Oh, so y’all want to disrespect me like that,' and I was like, 'What you talking about?' She was like, 'Y’all know what I’m talking about."'
The two men said they were in the hole, locked down with about four other men. They said shortly before it was time to go to bed, Lightner got on the intercom.
"Since y’all want to disrespect me like that, y’all better pray over y’all’s food in the morning," Johnson claimed Lightner said.
The men said they didn't think much of it and went to bed.
On Sunday morning, since they were in the hole, the men were waiting for breakfast in their cells. Johnson said they were served fries, biscuits and gravy, along with chocolate cake.
He says within seconds, "My mouth were hot, so I asked everybody that was in the dorm. I was like, 'Y’all’s mouth ain't burning?' They were like, 'Yeah, they must have put some hot sauce on the fries or something."'
Jennings said he was experiencing the same symptoms. They soon realized it wasn't hot sauce.
"After I bit my cake, my mouth got hotter, so I ran to the sink to try to get something to drink, then the next thing I know I start throwing up. Then after I threw up, I started coughing up blood," Johnson said.
At first the men said the other staff didn't believe them but soon realized something was wrong. Johnson said the other jailers started investigating and then turned to the inmates who were on work detail who helped serve the trays of food to the inmates.
"The two inmates told the supervisor they watched her spray our trays with the pepper spray," Johnson explained.
Johnson said the lieutenant on shift acknowledged it shouldn't have happened.
"He apologized to us because, like, he couldn’t believe something like that happened," Johnson said.
Both men said they are exploring legal options.
The GBI said at this point in their investigation, it appears Lightner acted alone.