Mothers express concerns about conditions at Shelby County Jail
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Moms of inmates are worried about the safety of their sons as problems continue to rise at the Shelby County Jail.
From fires being set inside the jail just this past weekend to several inmates being injured, their moms fear for their lives. They say they want change before it’s too late.
“They putting them all together. That’s what’s causing the problem. They putting all the wrong people together. It’s like they are setting them up to get hurt or be killed,” one of the inmate’s mom said.
Four inmates injured after “disturbance” at 201 Poplar
She says her 20-year-old son was locked up on March 30, 2023, on weapon and theft of property charges. She hasn’t been able to make his $224,000 bond so he has to sit in jail as his court cases are continuously reset.
Then a few weeks ago she says she couldn’t reach him at all.
“It’s times where you don’t even hear from them for days. And you don’t know what’s going on. Even if you were to call jail information. Half the time they are not answering,” she said. “They sleeping on the floor. The doors, the cells, they pretty much can come in and out as they want to. I was also told the guards don’t even come on the floors. They too afraid.”
Another mom says they worry that low-level inmates are being mixed with those in on serious higher-level charges and the danger that comes with that.
“I don’t think he is safe in there at all. Shoot, I thought the streets were horrible, but prison just as worse,” another inmate’s mom said.
SCSO: Inmate charged after attack on nurse
They have seen the reports of violence, staffing shortages, and just this past weekend a unit set on fire and doors broken which allowed inmates to intermingle.
“I was just praying it wasn’t my son,” the mom said.
The Sheriff’s Department is investigating the latest violence.
WREG obtained the incident reports showing four inmates listed as suspects in the recent violence.
Dontavious Ford, Daniel Robinson, and Maynor Turcios are all facing murder charges, among other charges. Romello Mason is in jail on an aggravated burglary charge.
However, the incident report does not state which suspect did what.
“The housing unit’s main door was tied closed from the inside using bed sheets in an attempt to keep corrections deputies from entering,” said Chief Deputy Anthony Buckner in a video released by the Sheriff’s Office over the weekend.
“I got to talk to many of those inmates who talked about the fact that some of their doors wouldn’t even lock. So they don’t even sleep some nights because they don’t know if somebody is going to come into their cell,” said Charlie Caswell, Shelby County Commissioner, who toured the jail about a month ago.
SCSO doubles down on need for new jail after ‘disturbance’ on Friday night
But he knows fixing them is going to require some hard decisions.
“It is on many of the Commissioners’ hearts that we have to do something about it, but we got to identify the funding source that’s going to provide us almost $800 million. As we’ve been told it’s going to take that to build a new jail,” Caswell said.
But, Caswell says the county’s plan to build a new mental health facility would reduce the number of people inside the jail and ease things a bit.
“I am all for if you do the crime, you can do the time,” one inmate’s mom said. “But still, they are human. Don’t treat them like wild animals.”
Commissioner Caswell also says the Sheriff moving some deputies from juvenile court back to 201 Poplar will help with the problems at the jail.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WREG.com.
