Ex-Georgia jailer sentenced to 2 years behind bars at his former workplace

A longtime Bartow County jailer is set to return to the facility where he worked for nearly 18 years — but this time as a detainee.

Gregory Jarrod Allen, 44, was sentenced to 24 months behind bars Monday after pleading guilty to having sexual contact with an inmate he was tasked with supervising three years ago.

The former guard requested to serve his sentence at the Bartow County Jail, where he worked from 2005 until his termination in September 2022.

It was a unique request that means the former jailer could end up being supervised by some of the very people he once worked alongside. In choosing to serve his sentence at the local jail, Allen will avoid spending time inside a Georgia prison among a population that may not take kindly to the former law enforcement officer.

Defense attorney Stewart Bratcher told the judge he didn’t expect his client to receive any jail time after entering into the non-negotiated plea. His client is a military veteran with a no prior criminal history, Bratcher said.

Judge Suzanne Smith explained the defendant would likely end up serving more time in the county jail than he would inside a state prison, but Allen and his lawyer said that is OK.

Allen’s wife looked on as her husband pleaded guilty to one count of sexual contact by a person with supervisory authority and one count of procuring tobacco for an inmate.

She also listened intently as Allen’s accuser discussed how those jailhouse encounters upended her life.

The woman, who was arrested for shoplifting makeup, said the ordeal was “nothing short of dehumanizing” and called herself a “victim of coercion.”

“I was trapped in a cage and he held every key,” she said.

Assistant District Attorney Connor Dooley said the woman tried repeatedly to end the sexual relationship, but he said Allen was persistent.

Allen was arrested in October 2022, less than a month after the sheriff’s office asked the GBI to investigate the allegations, authorities said.

Given the power imbalance and the dynamics of their guard-prisoner relationship, Dooley said he was reluctant to call any of those encounters “consensual.”

Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Allen to five years behind bars.

“He exploited his position of authority. He exploited the trust and good faith of the people of this county,” Dooley said. “This is a case that deserves prison time.”

Even after the woman was transferred to the Cherokee County Jail, authorities said Allen sent money to her account and regularly called her on the recorded phone line.

He also mailed letters to her mother’s house, the woman said.

“He did not act as someone sworn to uphold the law,” she told the judge. “He acted as a man who believed the rules did not apply.”

Smith sentenced Allen to 15 years, two years to serve in custody and the remainder on probation. He was also ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and complete 100 hours of community service. He was allowed to plead guilty as a first offender.

Before sentencing him, the judge lectured him at length about the importance of the oath he took as a law enforcement officer.

“This is a crime,” she said. “Obviously you wouldn’t be standing here today entering a guilty plea if you hadn’t done something wrong ... It’s inappropriate, it’s wrong and it’s illegal.”

Bratcher also acknowledged that his client broke the law and said Allen never tried to run from his actions. Instead, he admitted what he did and accepted his sentence, Bratcher said after the hearing.