Violent abuse at Georgia Telfair prison
I’m writing your organization in hopes of raising awareness of my situation. On the date of 9-3-15, I was a inmate at Smith State Prison, where I was assaulted viciously by Derrius Attical; a member of the Cert Team. Somewhere in between the hours of 3 & 5’ oclock pm the Cert Team came to H-2, a lock down-segregation unit, with new arrivals. Somehow or another, Cert Team member D. Attical found reason to obtain the keys from the dormitory floor officer to gain access to my room. When the door came open, I was closer to the door than my bunkmate, who was sitting up-right on his bottom bunk. We were both sprayed with pepper spray none the less, but I was beat badly. I think he hit me with the bottom of the pepper spray can, but can not be certain. I & my room mate were temporarily blinded by pepper spray.
When all was said & done, I was covered in my own blood from head to toe, literally. I was escorted to medical by the Cert Team, & sent to the free world hospital, where I received stitches on my right eye brawl, & eye lid; & the left top corner of my upper lip. In total, I received what I think was 8 stitches. But it didn’t stop there. As expected I filed my grievance, & awaited disciplinary court, but on the date 9-11-15, exactly 8 days later, I was assaulted again!
On 9-11-15, about 4 something in the early morning, Lieutenant Witfield came to my new cell with a few others & a paint ball gun. They woke me out of my sleep, instructing me to cuff up, & I complied. I was then instructed to get on my knees, & I complied. From there I was pushed on my stomach. I laid there & listened, though the Lieutenant was being very unprofessional and belligerent. As he insulted me, he poked me in the face with the pepper ball gun. Still I remained silent. Some how the lieutenant felt disrespected. He quickly stood from where he once squatted & stomped on the back of my head, causing my chin to slam into the floor & split on contact.
The entire time, a female officer held the camera. I doubt that it was actually recording because of the conduct that the Lieutenant displayed, & the fact that once he was done she causally placed the camera to her side without stopping it from recording. I know this because I was waiting for her to. (Note that I received more stitches 9-11-15)
As I did the first time, I filed my grievance, & awaited to go to disciplinary court, although I did not receive a disciplinary report that time, I had still not been to D.R. Court for the incident on 9-3-15. The day I went to disciplinary investigation, I was acquitted of all charges. But for some strange reason I was forced into a program called Tier II & denied parole, which was set for 9-30-15. I was submitted into the Tier II program for “Assaultive History,” which is 1 of 13 reasons a inmate can be subjected to such a thing. This is ironic because I have never been convicted of such a thing. I have been accuse of 4 or 5 different occasions, but I have never been convicted of a violent D.R.
Due to the presumption of innocence, every man is considered innocent until proven guilty in the court of law, & to violate such a thing is to violate a man’s Due Process rights. I have hired an attorney on a contingency basis to represent me & my claims against the state, but America needs to be aware of the adversity the prison population endures.
I am just one of many. Throughout my 8 year prison term I have been a witness to many atrocious acts committed by those in authority of me. Many prisoners are not fortunate enough to have outside help and still, many are under educated, & lack the literacy skill to address such dynamic ploys. In conclusion, I hope that your org. is willing to help my raise awareness. I honestly believe that bringing attention to such evil & tyrannical people will halt such violence. Thank you for your time.
