Correspondence between Atlanta Attorney Mario Williams of Williams Oinonen LLC,

(representing several brutalized inmates) and the Georgia Department of Corrections, along with documents from Open Records Requests, reveal disturbing patterns and unanswered questions as to the DOC’s actions and intentions.

Documents reveal savage beatings of prisoners by correctional officers followed by refusal to reveal the extent of the injuries to the famlies of prisoners and, in several cases, the apparently intentional withholding of medical care for days and weeks afterward.  The injuries included fractures, severe blunt trauma inflicted to the head with a hammer-like object, hearing and memory loss.  The family of Miguel Jackson recently traveled to

Selma, Alabama to march in solidarity with the Formerly Incarcerated & Convicted People’s Movement (FICPM).

In at least one case, correctional officers were arrested.  In another, the former warden of Smith Prison (scene of some of the beatings) appears to have been demoted and transferred.  The attorney’s correspondence and records retrieved via the Open Records Act also reveal that dire and terroristic threats to the lives of inmates continue to be made by correctional officers, some of whom are named in grievances and other documents.

The fact that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has had to take charge of investigating some of the assaults indicates the inability, or unwillingness, of DOC to do so.

Rev. Kenneth Glasgow of TOPS, the Ordinary Peoples Society, is working closely with the legal team representing the prisoners and their families.

“We’re also advocates on the public policy front.  TOPS plans to convene a statewide series of hearings later this year, convened by the formerly incarcerated around the state, along with their families, allies and friends to get to the bottom of the growing scandal that is the prison state in Georgia.”

The Black Agenda Report has printed two informative stories in the last few days:

“Arrested GA Correctional Officer Oversaw Vicious Beating of Prisoner ‘In His Official Capacity’”

and

“Georgia Dept of Corrections Withholding Medical Care to Brutalized Inmates, Retaliatory Campaign Continues”

For information close to this systemic issue, contact:
Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, The Ordinary Peoples Society, 403 W. Powell St., Dothan AL 36303, 334-671-2882, topssociety@yahoo.com
Atty Mario Williams, Williams Oinonen LLC, 44 Broad St NW, Atlanta GA 30303, 404-654-0288, mario@goodgeorgialawyer.com
Bruce A. Dixon, managing editor Black Agenda Report, www.blackagendareport.com, 404-797-2087,bruce.dixon@blackagendareport.com