Overpopulation, lice, clogged toilets: Macon jail makes progress on plaguing issues

The Bibb County Jail has made progress on several issues in recent weeks, including overpopulation, clogged toilets and a lice outbreak, local law enforcement and the NAACP Macon chapter announced Thursday.

But some incarcerated people at the facility recently had to wash their jumpsuits in toilet water, pay for body soap, and live among feces-covered walls and trash cans, according to Gwenette Westbrooks, president of the local NAACP chapter who tours the jail and inspects each cell monthly.

Westbrooks and Maj. Brad Wolfe, who manages the jail, said that detainees’ living conditions won’t improve without expanding the detention center, which Bibb County Sheriff David Davis and Mayor Lester Miller have also agreed on. Jail staff and Macon-Bibb County commissioners were in the process of reviewing architectural proposals for an upgrade to the current facility.

Wolfe and Westbrooks, along with local and state legislators, provided updates on the jail at a town hall meeting Thursday night at Union Baptist Church in east Macon.

Wolfe said detainees recently overfilled the toilets, which led to flooded floors.

“Some of the toilets in the jail do need maintenance to be flushed,” Wolfe said at the town hall. “We found inmates had stuffed jumpsuits, towels, blankets and things down the toilet.”

Some of their jumpsuits and underwear wound up in toilets because there was no other way to wash them, Westbrooks said.

Georgia law mandates that clothes and bedding be sanitary and laundered regularly.

‘Infestation of lice’ in the Macon jail

Showers have also been a problem at the jail — some didn’t work and others didn’t have hot water. Limited shower access may have caused a lice crisis, Westbrooks and Wolfe said.

“It was a true infestation of lice that has really gone down a lot,” Wolfe said.

Now, when a detainee reports they have lice, jail staff will bring them to the booking area to take a shower with chemicals that kill the parasite, according to Wolfe.

Once a month, “pest control inspects the bed bugs and lice; treats for roaches, rats, anything like that,” Wolfe said. “We have rat traps in the back of the cell blocks, the inmates can’t get to them.”

Soap and menstrual products were also inaccessible, according to Westbrooks. Wolfe didn’t comment on this.

“I’m being told (by incarcerated people) that they’re having to pay for soap,” she said. “That’s something that should be provided to the inmates.”

Georgia law also has mandates for hygiene products.

“Inmates shall be furnished the basic necessities to maintain a high standard of personal cleanliness,” state law says. “Necessities shall include, but not be limited to, soap, razor blades or other shaving devices, toothbrushes, toothpaste or powder, etc. Female inmates shall be provided additional hygiene items as required.”

During Westbrooks’ recent monthly walk-throughs, she noticed lights didn’t work on the cell blocks.

“So when the sun goes down, they’re just in the dark,” she said.

Jail staff have taken actions to improve its living conditions since June, but it’s still “inhumane,” Westbrooks said.

Reducing overpopulation

A recent initiative meant to fund ankle monitors and get some detainees out of jail is working, and the jail population has declined, according to Wolfe.

There were 20 to 30 fewer detainees at the jail than its capacity of 966 as of Thursday, Wolfe said. Its overpopulation in recent months caused conflict, violence and deaths among inmates, Sheriff Davis has confirmed.

“There’s not much free range to move and get into an altercation with each other,” Wolfe said.

Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney Anita Howard said she “made some recommendations” to judges to give some incarcerated people supervised release on ankle monitors. It was unclear Thursday how many people were granted release and how many she recommended.

Howard and other law enforcement leaders are part of the Macon Justice and Wellness Task Force, which was established in June. They audit who should get an ankle monitor, seek mental health support or work a paid job at the jail. They review a person’s charge, criminal history, behavior in the jail and length of incarceration.

“A defense attorney can file a motion with the court to have the judge hear, and the judge always makes the final decision,” Howard said.

A recent partnership between the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office and River Edge Behavioral Health has also helped decrease the number of people held at the jail. Clinicians and counselors have diverted some people in mental health crises who are at risk of incarceration to opt for psychiatric treatment instead of getting arrested.

“They’ve worked with me on just about everything I’ve asked to be done … but still, it’s not enough,” Westbrooks said.

This story was originally published September 15, 2025 at 9:16 AM.