HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — The Henry County Jail houses approximately 900 inmates on any given day. Of those, a majority are men but about 200 women are also housed inside the facility.
Following an 11Alive Investigation where a current Henry County Sheriff's Office employee came forward with concerns about conditions inside the jail, a recently released inmate reached out to us.
The employee who asked us to hide their identity out of fear they would be fired for speaking out said the jail is currently running with a third of the staff it should have on each shift.
"We're lucky to have six to eight officers show up," the employee explained.
It was two days after that report, a woman reached out to 11Alive to share her recent experience while being held in the jail. She also asked us to hide her identity out of fear of retaliation. She said after listening to the current employee, she had to speak up about what she saw, experienced and heard during her 24-hour lock-up.
"I mean, there was no one around, no one to help you, to oversee the pod and all the people in there," she explained.
The woman was in jail on a non-violent offense. To protect her identity, we're not revealing her charge. However, she said during the day she was there, she saw and heard enough.
"We never got out of our cell other than to get food, and I went to court," she said.
This was one of the issues raised during the 11Alive interview with the sheriff's office employee. They said due to such a shortage in staffing, it's difficult to do everything plus monitor the inmates and make sure everyone is safe.
"It's not possible. There's no way you can do everything that needs to be done," the employee said.
Even basic needs are not being met, according to the woman who was jailed there.
"When I got to my cell with two other women, and I laid on the floor on a mat, they were at least so happy to have a roll of toilet paper," she explained.
The woman said until she was put in their cell, the women were using wash clothes after using the restroom.
"It's inhumane in there, the people in there are crying out for help," she said.
The woman said she understands that jail is not supposed to be a vacation, but she said there's a limit to how much you restrict one's rights to basic needs and help. She said they never saw anyone walking around checking on them. She said she was in her cell for literally 23 or the 24 hours of her time.
And the employee who spoke out about the conditions mentioned the staffing shortage challenges.
"They’re that short-staffed. A lot of the people that are in there aren’t getting rotations or they’re getting only an hour a day. You can barely get a shower and get on the phone in an hour," the employee explained.
The woman explained she wanted to come forward because she said what she witnessed inside the jail broke her heart. She admitted this wasn't her first time in jail, but it was in Henry County. She said out of the times she's ever had to spend the night in a jail, this was the worst she's experienced.
"It's absolutely inhumane. It's like they're caged animals," she said.
When 11Alive spoke to Sheriff Reginald Scandrett, he acknowledged they have staffing issues but said it's not new or unique to Henry County. When asked about inmates being locked up all day long, he said, "I don't think that's quite accurate."
"If there's an issue in a particular cell, we lock down the cell for the safety of all," he said.
According to the sheriff, "If we have classification issues, there's certain areas that have mental health, disciplinary issues, we have to make sure they're locked down for certain amount of time frame -- that's jail 101."
When I brought that up to the woman who was locked up, she pointed out that she was a non-violent offender, locked down for 23 hours of her 24-hour stay.