Cortez Berry was turning 18 Saturday, and about a dozen of his friends at the Burruss Correctional Training Center in Forsyth, Ga., wanted to give him a present.
“The (Gangster Disciples) came in and told him that since he was turning 18, he might as well join the gang, because you about to go to the other side,” said Berry’s aunt Shavondria Wright of Jonesboro.
According to Wright, Berry refused the invitation. At that point, about 10 gang members savagely beat and humiliated Berry, who is serving an eight-year term for armed robbery and carjacking.
By prison standards, the beating might have been considered routine. But what happened next vividly exposed the nature of prison, the ways of gangs and the never-ending struggle to control the smuggling of contraband such as cell phones.
The aftermath of the attack on Berry was photographed and uploaded to Facebook.
Hundreds of thousands of people gazed upon Berry’s defeated eyes as he was forced to kneel before two of his victors with a makeshift leash around his neck.
Online, reaction to the attack has ranged from sympathy to apathy.
Gwendolyn Hogan, a spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Corrections, said the department is still investigating the photograph and the circumstances surrounding it. She would not comment on Wright’s claim that Berry was beaten for declining to join a gang.
Wright said she was at the prison checking on her nephew within hours of the photo being posted. When she arrived, she said, many of the guards didn’t even realize what happened to him.
“And I haven’t heard anything from the prison since,” Wright said. “I don’t even think they sent him out for medical attention yet.”
Wright, who visits Berry regularly because of her proximity to the prison, said she was shocked when she saw his condition. Berry, she said, was terrified and embarrassed that his image is now plastered across social media. Tuesday, Wright provided the Atlanta Journal-Constitution with a second photograph taken after the beating, which has not been aired publicly.
“He isn’t going to admit it, but deep down in his mind, he has to be fearful that something else can happen,” Wright said. “And for me, I can’t sleep at night, because I don’t know if my nephew is safe.”
Since 2010, one corrections officer and 33 prisoners have been killed in Georgia prisons.
According to a study released by the Southern Center for Human Rights, gangs dominate Georgia’s prison system, the nation’s fourth largest.
“Gangs control inmate housing assignments and expel inmates they no longer want in their dorms,” the report said. “Gangs pose a formidable challenge to prison security even in well-run prisons. In prisons where security is neglected, gangs step in to perform functions that prison officials fail to perform.”
The report also suggests that rising violence in Georgia prisons stems partly from prisoners having access to illegal contraband, particularly cell phones, which are used to coordinate and commit crimes, as well as to carry out extortion.
“Cell phones are often used to commit and plan crimes outside of prison, but also to incite violence and to extort family members of those who are incarcerated,” said Sarah Geraghty, a senior attorney with the organization. “We hear from family members all the time that they will receive a text picture of their loved ones, who have been beaten, with the message: ‘Pay us money or something will happen.’
In 2012, the AJC reported that corrections officials confiscated more than 8,700 illegal cell phones the year before. A year later, NBC News reported that 13,500 cell phones were confiscated.
“First and foremost, the Department (of Corrections) does not tolerate contraband and takes very seriously its mission of protecting the public and running safe and secure facilities,” Hogan said. She said the prison system has bought and installed a variety of devices to help prison officials detect contraband cell phones and other electronics.
“It is hard to see (the image of Berry) on the Internet,” Wright said. “But in this situation, I am kind of grateful that they had contraband, or we wouldn’t have known about this.”
While Hogan would not comment on the incident, Wright said the last time she spoke Berry, he told her that he was in protective custody. She said she is not sure of his current status.
Berry has been in the system since at least 2011, when, at the age of 14, he was sent to the Richmond County Youth Detention Center after being charged with armed robbery and carjacking in Augusta.
His current stint at Burruss started March 31, 2014, when he was charged with a parole violation.
“He is a kind-hearted person, who did a bad thing in the past. He made a mistake,” Wright said. “But I see him maturing more as a man. He said when he gets out, he is going to find a job and make better decisions. He always tells my oldest that he doesn’t want to end up in there with him.”
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