Crime & Public Safety

Georgia prison guards charged with assaulting inmates

Federal immigration authorities are targeting over 1,200 Georgia prisoners for possible deportation according to the State Corrections Department. State Correction officials don't track the immigration status of their inmates, so it is unknown whether these prisoners are in the country illegally. But the federal government has issued detainers for the state prisons to hold these offenders for up to 48 hours after they have completed their sentences. The number of foreign-born inmates represents about 5 percent of the state's total prison population, now at 54,000. We visit Phillips State Prisons while inmates are having lunch in the cafeteria Thursday, October 27, 2011. Vino Wong vwong@ajc.com
Federal immigration authorities are targeting over 1,200 Georgia prisoners for possible deportation according to the State Corrections Department. State Correction officials don't track the immigration status of their inmates, so it is unknown whether these prisoners are in the country illegally. But the federal government has issued detainers for the state prisons to hold these offenders for up to 48 hours after they have completed their sentences. The number of foreign-born inmates represents about 5 percent of the state's total prison population, now at 54,000. We visit Phillips State Prisons while inmates are having lunch in the cafeteria Thursday, October 27, 2011. Vino Wong vwong@ajc.com
By Rhonda Cook
Oct 20, 2017

Three prison guards were charged with felonies for allegedly beating up two low-level inmates, according to rare indictments returned Thursday in Johnson County.

The court documents contained no details of of attacks at Johnson State Prison or what prompted them.

The state Department of Corrections declined to provide details of the incidents because they are still under investigation, and would only provide copies of the charges against Lt. Jason Hurst, Jamal Foreman and Taurus L. Mosely, a member of a special tactical team.

ALSO: Georgia prison violence rising

RELATED: State prison system may have condoned violence

They are each charged with simple battery against a person in custody, which is a misdemeanor, and violation of their oaths of office, a felony.

Inmates Brandon Lee Womack and Matthew Blackburn were assaulted by Johnson County prison guards.(Georgia Department of Corrections)
Inmates Brandon Lee Womack and Matthew Blackburn were assaulted by Johnson County prison guards.(Georgia Department of Corrections)

Hurst and Foreman are charged with attacking inmate Matthew Blackburn, now 30, on on May 25. Blackburn was convicted in 2014 in Berrien County on one court of interference with government property and and another count of eluding police, which resulted in a five-year prison sentence. In 2015, Blackburn was sentenced to two years  in prison for possession of drugs by a prisoner.

Hurst and Mosely are charged with attacking 23-year-old Brandon Lee Womack, who is serving 10 years for a 2012 conviction for possession of methamphetamine in Chattooga County. The date of that attack was not noted in the indictments and the corrections department would not provide that information.

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