Bibb sheriff discusses ‘troubling’ social media images of jail inmates in crowded pods
Bibb County sheriff’s officials on Thursday invited news outlets into a control booth at the county jail, one that overlooks three inmate-intake dormitories, to view conditions at the county jail after images that depicted crowding and a lack of social distancing were circulated on social media.
The images included photos that showed inmates appearing to be sleeping on floors, some not wearing masks, in an area set up to isolate incoming detainees for up to a week to reduce the spread of COVID-19 until the inmates are cleared to enter the main jail.
The three-pod array, overseen by deputies in a second-floor control room, houses roughly 140 inmates, with a capacity of 45 or so per pod.
Sleeping on ‘low-to-the-ground’ cots
Sheriff David Davis said that while the images seen online seemed to show inmates sleeping on floors, they were on the low-to-the-ground cots. He also said the pictures depicted inmates during a time of day when many are not locked in cells for the night, and that they were congregating as they will in what is known as a “dayroom” setting.
The pallet-like cots, known as “boats,” have a mattress, blankets and pillows.
“But at any given time, no inmate is in (that setting) for more than just a few days, maybe a week or so, until we make sure that they are not sick and that we have an available cell (elsewhere) in the ... jail to move them to,” Davis said.
The sheriff said during times when several people are arrested, the intake pods can reach capacity.
He said the images shared online came during an uptick in arrests and “you had this back-flow or this back-fill back into this quarantine area.”
He added: “We have to do this to maintain the physical health of the jail.”
‘Troubling’ images
Davis said the daily coming and going of inmates at the near-1,000-bed lockup on Oglethorpe Street presents constant health concerns. Since the pandemic began, only about 10 inmates have been diagnosed with COVID-19 while incarcerated, he said.
He added that though the images circulated were “troubling,” that “you have to remember that picture was taken” during the day, a time when inmates are intermingling, “laying on the tables, sitting around, doing things.”
Davis didn’t speak of any specific changes that had been made in the days since the images were shared, but said the jail facilities “are not perfect” and that “we need to make sure that we are moving inmates out of these particular isolation areas in a timely manner.”
A ‘learning experience’
Davis said he hosted Thursday’s media tour, in part, “to explain what the situation is and (see) if there is any type of mitigating things that we need to do. ... This has been a learning experience for us (for) things that we might want to do differently and make sure that we stay on top of this so that we don’t have as large a backlog of inmates.”
With courts not in session during the pandemic, the number of inmates locked up waiting for their cases to be heard include several who are charged with the most serious violent crimes.
More than a quarter of the 826-inmate population at the jail on Thursday was comprised of those charged in killings, shootings and cuttings. Seventy of the inmates are accused of murder.