NAACP Macon president to regularly tour local jail, push for reform
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- NAACP leader Gwenette Westbrooks to conduct monthly inspections of Bibb Jail.
- Officials debate new facility versus renovations amid reports of unsafe conditions.
- NAACP urges federal oversight, citing rights violations and structural neglect.
Macon’s NAACP president Gwenette Westbrooks will tour the Bibb County Jail regularly in an effort to ensure it operates humanely, she said Wednesday afternoon.
Westbrooks, president of the local chapter, had just come from a meeting on the future of the jail with Sheriff David Davis and Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney Anita Howard. They established that Westbrooks will tour the facility once a month to ensure that inmates and staff are safe.
She further established, alongside attorney and state president of the NAACP Gerald Griggs, that they would meet with Mayor Lester Miller to determine whether the solution is to build a new jail or increase their funding to refurbish the current one.
“Just because people are incarcerated does not mean that they do not have rights,” Westbrooks said. “They do have rights and we want to make sure that those rights are protected.”
Several homicides, suicides and overdoses have occurred at the jail, which has sparked discussion of the jail’s conditions.
“We want the community to understand this is not just a Macon-Bibb issue,” said Griggs. “This is a statewide issue.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigations conduct their investigations on future deaths and serious bodily injuries at the jail, rather than Davis conducting internal investigations, according to Griggs.
What the NAACP wants
Westbrooks and Griggs didn’t mention much about the conditions inside the jail, but they were concerned about the facility’s age, which is more than 45 years old. They hope that, by touring the facility monthly, they can get a better sense of what the best solution for the inmates and the staff inside the jail is, since they are “serious about getting to the bottom of why the jail issues are the way they are,” Griggs said.
He further explained that it’s “very difficult to maintain that facility in a way that is humane.”
Although the sheriff explained that shakedowns and block checks were done frequently, Westbrooks wanted to make sure they’re actually being done. She also addressed mental health issues among inmates and said that, even though Davis previously addressed that they’d be held in a block separate from the general population, “you still got to deal with the jail itself.”
But, before they can establish a solution, Griggs said they needed to talk to Miller regarding how he will fund the improvements at the jail, as well as needing him to understand that the conditions at the jail equate a human rights concern, according to Westbrooks. Miller proposed a new annual budget Tuesday, which would heavily fund the sheriff’s office, which runs the jail.
Westbrooks and Griggs confirmed that they will send out reports of the jail’s condition after every visit, but no pictures can be taken while inside the facility.
Their overall goal for their tours and their meeting with the mayor is to establish change in the jail rather than urging the Department of Justice to conduct an investigation or for a lawsuit to be filed in federal court, Griggs said.
District 3 Commissioner Stanley Stewart also made an appearance alongside Westbrooks and Griggs and gave a quick description of his experience at the jail when he toured it a couple of weeks ago.
“The conditions I saw were horrific,” Stewart said. “It’s horrific in three aspects. Number one, nobody who’s incarcerated should have to have the fear of being killed or harmed ... Second thing, nobody working here should have to have the fear of being harmed while working. And the third thing from a community aspect, those of us in the general population shouldn’t have to fear somebody getting out of here and hurting us in the community.”
NAACP urges the DOJ to investigate jail
Griggs shared on Thursday that he wishes for the DOJ to “immediately investigate and take oversight of the facility due to the dangerous and inhumane conditions.” He further established that some sections of the jail are uninhabitable and could constitute potential constitutional violations that put the lives of inmates and staff at risk.
“Cracked walls, broken plumbing, poor lighting and unsanitary conditions create an environment no human should be subjected to,” Griggs said. “This is a civil and human rights crisis.”
Griggs also demanded local offices to take immediate action to fund emergency repairs and upgrade the infrastructure at the jail “to restore safety, dignity and accountability,” he said Thursday.
“There is no excuse for this level of neglect,” Griggs said.
This story was originally published May 22, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
