A video surfaced online of a Georgia inmate being brutalized and tased by officers while staying in an area for mentally-ill inmates on suicide watch.
Cortney Jackson, the victim who suffered from the violent beating caught on tape, plans to sue city officials for cruel and unusual punishment, Ledger-Enquirer reports.
Jackson is a former Muscogee County Jail inmate (jailed for two years). He was “unexpectedly” released on bond when the video became public on Thursday, Mar. 1 according to his attorneys.
Corrections officers filed a report claiming Jackson, “refused to comply with verbal commands and became aggressive and violent towards the officers.”
Deputy Brian Davis alleged the victim grabbed their shirts which provoked them to retaliate against Jackson. Davis wrote in a report, “Inmate Jackson then stepped up onto the bench in the cell and was beginning to try and fight all the officers in the cell… At this point, several closed fist strikes were delivered to inmate Jackson’s head, face abdomen and ribs.”
However, the video footage shows correctional employees and deputies pulling and punching Jackson consistently while he was naked in an area only for inmates on suicide watch. They tased him 10 times. One of the correctional employees even covered Jackson’s head with a white spit bag as he sat on the floor in shock with blood pouring from his mouth. The victim’s tooth was knocked out, and officers contained him using leg shackles and handcuffs according to reports from the Sheriff’s Office.
An official deemed the use of force as “outside of policy under most circumstances” and requested better training for the officers.
Jackson’s family told the news outlet, they along with an NAACP representative were denied entrance after requesting to see the victim.
Megan Garcia, the attorney representing the family told Ledger-Enquirer, “They’re heartbroken and devastated… They’re upset with the changes in Cortney’s personality. He’s never going to be the same, and they don’t want anyone to experience what he had to experience.”
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